"Said he wouldn't run for the party convention, then immediately withdrew from the Innovation Committee"
"Saying things behind someone's back that you can't say to their face... Is this a responsible attitude?"
On July 10, Kwon Sungdong, a member of the People Power Party, strongly criticized Ahn Cheolsoo for claiming that he did not single out any individuals as targets for personnel reform, saying, "With this kind of 'Hanamja leadership,' our party will never be able to overcome its crisis."
On social media that day, Kwon addressed Ahn, stating, "When we met face-to-face at the parliamentary office, you declared, 'I will never run in the party convention,' but after hearing some people disparage former leader Han Donghoon over the weekend, you immediately carried out a 'withdrawal operation from the Innovation Committee.'" The previous day, Ahn had drawn a line regarding the claim that "Ssangkwon" (Kwon Youngse and Kwon Sungdong) were singled out as targets for personnel reform, saying, "I have never said it was any particular person."
Kwon Sungdong, floor leader of the People Power Party, delivers a greeting at the "On-site Meeting for AI G3 Leap" held at the LG AI Research Institute in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 6th. On the right is Ahn Cheolsoo, chairman of the AI Special Committee. 2025.3.6. Photo by Kang Jinhyung
He continued, "In interviews where your face is shown, you say, 'I have never singled out anyone,' but behind the scenes, you say, 'It's Kwon Sungdong and Kwon Youngse.' Is it really the attitude of a responsible politician to say things behind someone's back that you cannot say to their face?"
Kwon further criticized, "Former Innovation Committee Chairman Ahn declared that he would actively cooperate with a special prosecutor's investigation riddled with unconstitutional elements," and added, "This shows an attitude that it's acceptable for a colleague to become a scapegoat of a political investigation as long as it helps him get elected as party leader."
He went on to say, "Last week, I personally participated in the Party Affairs Audit Committee's investigation and sincerely answered questions about the background and procedures of the single-candidate unification effort. I hope that this issue will no longer trouble my fellow emergency committee members, especially the frontline staff of the party secretariat."
Regarding the 'presidential candidate replacement controversy,' Kwon stated, "During the presidential election phase, the leadership's duty is to select the most competitive candidate and support them for victory. If the leadership had ignored the unification effort, it would have been impossible to avoid criticism for dereliction of duty."
He added, "Former Innovation Committee Chairman Ahn, despite knowing the entire sequence of events better than anyone, suddenly labeled it as an 'unfair, unjust, unconstitutional, and undemocratic early-morning candidate replacement coup.' He took advantage of the possibility that Han might not run and used his fellow lawmakers as scapegoats to pursue his own election as party leader."
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