On the 19th, Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, commented on the first-trial verdict on former President Yoon Sukyeol’s insurrection charges, saying, “It is a grave but rightful ruling,” and added, “What the Reform New Party seeks to do is to surgically remove the specter of prosecution-centered, one-shot opportunism that briefly took root in the conservative camp, and to quietly pave the way for conservatism to once again stand before the people as a trusted choice.”
Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, appeared at the National Assembly on August 5 on The Asia Business Daily AK Radio and is being interviewed by specialist So Jongsseop. August 5, 2025 Kim Hyunmin, Reporter
On his social networking service (SNS) account the same day, Lee stated, “The court has handed down a heavy sentence to a man who, in the name of the president, trampled on the Constitution and turned the blade of the power entrusted by the people against the people themselves. In a democratic republic, power that makes the sovereign people its enemy can never be forgiven.”
Lee continued, “However, what we must truly confront today lies beyond the written judgment. The crisis of conservatism is not about a president who has gone to prison. It is about those who still speak in that president’s language,” adding, “Even at this very moment, there are forces that use the name Yoon Sukyeol as a shield to pursue political gain. Now they are trying to mislead the public, as if they could become different people just by putting a single dot under their eye, and as if they themselves had never done such things.”
Lee went on to say, “We do not hold responsible those who were forcibly subjected to Japanese colonial-era name changes and conscripted against their will, but those who voluntarily donated airplanes and accepted positions as members of the Privy Council were different,” stressing, “There is a clear line between coercion and voluntariness, and that same standard must be applied in today’s conservative politics in the Republic of Korea.”
Lee said, “The one-shot opportunism that touted sending opponents to prison as if it were a political achievement, and the political factions that lived off the power of the prosecution, must now come to an end,” adding, “Politics that rallies around conspiracy theories and seeks to prove its existence only through being an antithesis will never open a new path for the Republic of Korea.”
He stated, “Korean conservatism has the underlying strength that created the miracle of industrialization, and the conviction that defended liberal democracy,” and added, “I cannot stand by and watch that legacy be squandered by those who abetted insurrection. With the determination to work humbly so that politics in the Republic of Korea can change, I will walk a path that does not shame the people.”
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