People Power Party, 'Kwon Young-se' Likely to Become Emergency Committee Chair... Experienced and Seasoned with Five Terms

The Democratic Party holds a caucus to endorse
Stable selection of senior party members
'Pro-Yoon' label... Will it convince the public?

The People Power Party is strongly considering Kwon Young-se, a five-term lawmaker from the Seoul metropolitan area, as the new Emergency Response Committee Chairperson on the 24th. Given the party's crisis situation, appointing an experienced and senior incumbent lawmaker as the committee chairperson is interpreted as choosing stability over innovation.

Kwon Seong-dong, the acting party leader and floor leader of the People Power Party, plans to hold a party meeting on the same day to recommend Kwon as the Emergency Response Committee Chairperson. This comes eight days after former leader Han Dong-hoon resigned on the 16th. The chairperson will be officially inaugurated after receiving approval from the party meeting and the National Committee.

Kwon Young-se, member of the People Power Party. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Earlier, Acting Leader Kwon had also considered a 'reform-oriented Emergency Response Committee Chairperson.' Initially, he was known to have considered former lawmaker Yoon Hee-sook and lawmaker Kim Jae-seop as candidates. The idea of former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min as a 'savior' was also mentioned. However, he reportedly changed his stance after receiving advice that a stable senior figure within the party would be better in the current situation. Hwang Woo-yeo, the previous Emergency Response Committee Chairperson and senior advisor, said in a phone call, "Instead of an outsider, someone from within the party who knows the party well and can act like a ruling party should is the right person to come as the chairperson."

Once appointed as the Emergency Response Committee Chairperson, Kwon is expected to focus first on healing the party, which was divided after the presidential impeachment motion incident. The People Power Party experienced internal strife due to clashes between the pro-Yoon (Yoon Seok-yeol) faction and the pro-Han (Han Dong-hoon) faction over the two impeachment motion votes. Kwon is also expected to organize the party's stance on matters such as martial law. Given the possibility of an 'early presidential election' depending on the impeachment trial outcome, preparations for this are also anticipated. Kwon gained trust both inside and outside the party by serving as the head of the election campaign headquarters after President Yoon dissolved the election committee due to conflicts with former Emergency Response Committee Chairperson Kim Jong-in and former leader Lee Jun-seok, managing the campaign smoothly.

However, some opinions suggest that he falls short of public expectations in terms of change and reform. Kwon did not participate in the vote to lift martial law and advocated for the rejection of the presidential impeachment motion. Although he is relatively neutral in factional colors, he was considered a pro-Yoon figure in the early days of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. Kwon served as the Minister of Unification under the Yoon administration.