Lee Jun-seok on Park Young-sun and Yang Jeong-cheol Speculations: "Show How Flustered Yoon Is"

"Must Appoint Forward-Looking New Figures"
Cooperation Should Progress Stepwise: Internal -> Opposition -> Diplomacy

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform New Party, criticized some reports on the presidential office's new appointments for prime minister, ministers, and chief of staff on the 17th, saying they are "contextless, not future-oriented at all, nor reformative."

At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, Lee said, "The mere fact that a plan to form a de facto national unity cabinet was proposed without any context shows how flustered President Yoon Seok-yeol is and that he is presenting disorganized alternatives to manage the current government."

He added, "When public reaction worsened, the Yongsan Presidential Office denied it as an absurd story. However, since multiple media outlets confirmed it through their sources, I believe there was an attempt to gauge public opinion based on this."

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform New Party, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 15th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Lee explained, "The most important thing in appointments is ultimately to select new figures whom the public can view as future-oriented," adding, "The overall operational policy of state affairs must change."

He said, "The reason Hong Joon-pyo, mayor of Daegu, was mentioned as the next prime minister is because President Yoon needs to consider cooperation with Hong, who was a competitor in the last presidential election," and added, "Within the ruling party, cooperation should be planned with those who were ousted or harmed in the past two years, cooperation with the opposition party should be considered, and then a phased approach is needed to revitalize exchanges with countries with which we have been diplomatically negligent."

Meanwhile, the Reform New Party decided to hold a party convention that day to elect the party leader and supreme council members. The election will be conducted with a one-person two-votes system to elect the leader and supreme council members together. Lee explained, "The elected leader will have sole authority over appointments such as the secretary-general and research institute director. We will aim for a leadership system close to a single leadership structure."