Close Ally Park Sang-su: "The Reason for Martial Law on December 3 Is to Remove Han Dong-hoon"

"Han Dong-hoon Has Never Quit Politics"

Park Sang-soo, the head of the People Power Party's Incheon Seo-gu Gap district committee and former party spokesperson under the leadership of Han Dong-hoon, stated regarding the "Han Dong-hoon comeback rumors" that "Former Representative Han has never quit politics."

Park appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "(Former Representative Han) is known to have met with former Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in, Jo Gap-je, CEO of Jogapje.com, and former Democratic Party lawmaker Yoo In-tae, but he has met with many more people," adding, "Because he is involved in politics, he continues to meet people, and the idea of coming back means that since he never quit politics, he intends to make his moves public rather than secret."

Former People Power Party Representative Han Dong-hoon. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol's decision to set December 3 of last year as the date for martial law, Park said, "Looking back at that time, Former Representative Han was taking an ambiguous stance on the Kim Geon-hee special prosecutor law," and added, "If the purpose was to remove Former Representative Han, December 3 can be explained."

He spoke about the 'Under73' group, a gathering of pro-Han politicians born in 1973 or later, saying, "Young, promising politicians in our party were united around Former Representative Han. However, after Han supported the impeachment and was ousted, the young politicians were left adrift," and continued, "They met, comforted each other, and ate together until Ryu Je-hwa, head of the Sejong Gap district committee, created a group chat named 'Under73' and invited them." He added, "For about a month or two, they talked about various things and occasionally met for meals, and then they decided to start a YouTube channel to make their activities public," concluding, "You can think of it as a gathering."

Regarding Lee Jun-seok, a lawmaker from the Reform New Party, saying "If you were born in 1973, you would be old enough to have grandchildren," Park responded, "What is unfortunate about the Democratic Party or progressive parties is that there is not a single presidential candidate born in the 1970s. Even in our party, there is only one presidential candidate born in the 1970s," and criticized, "In fact, people born in the 1970s are by no means young, but political forces have been dominated for 30 years by those born in the 1960s or earlier."