"Country in Crisis, Yet Talking About Something Else": People Power Party Meeting Fizzles on Jeol-yoon Debate

Focus on Party Name, Party Rules, and Administrative Integration
The Jeol-yoon Debate Fizzles Out

The People Power Party, embroiled in an internal debate over 'Jeol-yoon (Jeol-yoon, meaning a complete break with former President Yoon Suk Yeol)', held a general meeting of its lawmakers on February 23 to discuss the party's future course, but failed to reach any meaningful conclusion. Around half of its lawmakers did not attend, and most of the time was instead devoted to discussion of changing the party name, revising the party constitution and rules, and the proposed administrative integration of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the party's traditional stronghold. Some lawmakers pushed back, calling it "a kind of pressure-release operation" and complaining that "the whole country is in a state of emergency, yet we are talking about something else."

The People Power Party held the meeting at the National Assembly from around 10:30 a.m. for about three hours. This was the first general meeting of lawmakers since February 22, when party leader Jang Donghyeok provoked a backlash inside and outside the party by responding to the court's first-instance sentence of life imprisonment for former President Yoon Suk Yeol by saying, "It is still only a first trial." At the meeting, wide-ranging discussions were held on pending issues such as the party name, the party constitution and rules, and the Daegu-North Gyeongsang administrative integration, as well as on Jang's refusal to declare a break with Yoon.

Yonhap News Agency

Some senior lawmakers used the meeting to raise the issue of leadership responsibility. Lawmaker Cho Kyungtae said, "I stated that if we do not sever ties with Yoon Suk Yeol, who is the ringleader of an insurrection, our party will suffer a crushing defeat, and asked why we are acting as the burial retinue for the former president," adding, "Local elections are becoming difficult nationwide, and if Representative Jang is not confident that he can properly lead the party, I believe it is right for him to step down on his own."

By contrast, senior lawmakers close to the pro-leadership camp rushed to defend him. Five-term lawmaker Yoon Sanghyun, who authored a "confessional record" about the party, said, "You cannot change your general in the middle of a war," and added, "When it comes to tying up the situation and leading the party into election mode, it is, above all else, the leadership of Representative Jang Donghyeok and the current leadership that can do so." Lawmaker Na Kyungwon also said, "Rather than internal conflict, it is right to wage a stronger fight against the administration," and argued, "In a way, 'Jeol-yoon' and the like are also falling into the frame set by the ruling party."

Representative Jang was reported to have presented at the meeting the results of a private opinion poll indicating that about 75% of party members responded that the party should move forward together with the former president. Lawmaker Lee Seongkwon, who serves as secretary of the in-party junior lawmakers' group "Alternative and Future," said, "Elections are a 51-to-49 fight, and public sentiment is measured by opinion polls of the people," adding, "I suggested to Representative Jang that we at least hold an open debate by bringing together the Yeouido Institute or polling experts."

Park Juntae, chief of staff to the party leader, explained the private opinion poll in question by saying, "The poll was a survey of our support base regarding the first-instance verdict for the former president," and added, "Representative Jang's point was that, contrary to fears or misunderstandings that decisions are being made while being swept up by a small (extreme) segment of the base, he has been making decisions by comprehensively reviewing all opinion polls."

However, the general meeting, which had been expected to see fierce clashes over Jeol-yoon, ended without major conflict or any notable conclusion. For more than two hours after the meeting opened, discussion centered mainly on the party name and the party constitution and rules. The number of attending lawmakers only slightly exceeded half of the party's 107 seats. Even that number dwindled as time went on, and by the end only about 30 lawmakers were said to remain in the meeting room.

Some lawmakers voiced dissatisfaction. They argued that the party's floor leadership was avoiding the Jeol-yoon debate and deliberately stalling for time. Lawmaker Cho Kyungtae said, "I wonder if this is not a kind of pressure-release operation," while lawmaker Bae Hyunjin, considered close to the pro-Yoon faction, also complained, "The whole country is in a state of emergency right now, so I do not understand why we are talking about Yeongnam alone for nearly two hours."

Lawmaker Han Jia said, "I cannot help but think that it was intentional to structure the order of (agenda items at) the general meeting like this, without first discussing the fundamental question of which direction our party should take," adding, "I express my regret about the order in which the meeting was conducted."

Lawmaker Cho Eunhee labeled this meeting a "muzzled general meeting" and went on to propose, via social networking services (SNS), a vote by all party members and a secret ballot by lawmakers. She said, "Let us ask the lawmakers and all party members what line the party should take in the election in order to win," adding, "What we should fear is not change, but being shunned by the people."