"Forcing a Single Candidacy at 3 a.m. Called 'Bottom-of-the-Barrel Politics'"
Warning Party Leadership: "This Will Lead to Conservative Collapse"
Former People Power Party leader Han Donghun, who participated in the party's presidential primary, strongly criticized the party leadership for attempting to replace the presidential candidate late at night, stating, "The pro-Yoon (pro-Yoon Sukyeol) faction is handing over power to Lee Jaemyung."
On May 10, Han posted as many as four related messages on Facebook, directly confronting the party's internal power structure.
Former People Power Party leader Han Donghun is listening to candidate Kim Munsu's acceptance speech after being eliminated in the primary election.
In a post uploaded around 8 a.m., he claimed, "The pro-Yoon members of the People Power Party unilaterally pushed a specific candidate favored by the pro-Yoon faction at 3 a.m. through a forced nomination," and added, "They physically blocked other candidates from registering by making a surprise announcement." He strongly criticized this, saying, "Even North Korea wouldn't do this."
While arguing that candidate Kim Munsu made a 'mistake' by using former Prime Minister Han Ducksoo and the pro-Yoon faction as a team to block him, Han also pointed out, "Even if there were circumstances that required replacing the candidate selected through the primary, it is impossible to explain why the party would exclude other primary participants and specifically pick 'Han Ducksoo,' who is not even a party member, as the replacement."
In particular, Han defined the strategic nomination of former Prime Minister Han as an illegitimate example of "pro-Yoon's backroom politics," stating, "Even the excuse of opinion polls is hard to accept. In the end, the pro-Yoon faction just wants to decide everything to suit their own interests." He further criticized, "Candidate Han Ducksoo is neither creating any momentum nor enjoying overwhelming support; he is simply a former prime minister who failed to stop the martial law announcement even when he witnessed it. The leadership is obsessed only with maintaining their vested interests rather than winning."
He questioned whether forcibly putting forward former Prime Minister Han as the People Power Party candidate through such a process was a realistic choice, and asserted, "The pro-Yoon faction only cares about prolonging their own vested interests and has never been interested in victory." He added, "It is regrettable that the People Power Party still seems to be swayed by former President Yoon Sukyeol, Kim Keonhee, and their followers."
In another post uploaded around 1 p.m. the same day, Han raised the level of criticism, warning, "If things continue like this, the traditional conservative party could degenerate into an unconstitutional party." He continued, "The pro-Yoon faction claims these are 'measures to stop Lee Jaemyung,' but now there are few people left who believe those lies. The pro-Yoon faction is paving an easy path for Lee Jaemyung."
He also emphasized that without party reform and conservative innovation, there can be no victory in the general election, declaring, "I will fight to the end to set the party right."
On this day, the People Power Party convened both the emergency committee and the election management committee at dawn to begin the decision-making process on agenda items such as a request to review the presidential selection procedure, the cancellation of candidate Kim Munsu's nomination, and the admission and candidate registration of Han Ducksoo. Afterwards, the party officially announced the cancellation of Kim's nomination and stated that, as a result, former Prime Minister Han, who had been an independent, was registered as the sole People Power Party presidential candidate.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
