People Power Party Second-Term Lawmakers: "Party Approval Has Hit Rock Bottom... Let's Hold an All-Out Debate on Cutting Ties with Yoon"

Demanding that Party Leadership Convene a General Meeting of Lawmakers

On February 26, second-term lawmakers of the People Power Party called on the party leadership to convene a general meeting of lawmakers to discuss the issue of "cutting ties with Yoon" (Jeol-yoon, meaning a complete break with former President Yoon Suk Yeol). They said, "The party's course has still not been clearly settled," adding, "We should convene a general meeting of lawmakers and hold an all-out debate so that we can wrap this up quickly."

Um Tae-young, a People Power Party lawmaker, met with reporters at the National Assembly that afternoon after a meeting of second-term lawmakers and said, "The consistent view among second-term lawmakers is that, even if it takes an all-out debate at a general meeting of lawmakers, we should quickly sort things out and move on to the next stage," making this position clear.

Yonhap News Agency

Representative Cho Eun-hee said, "On the 20th, Representative Jang Dong-hyeok referred to the presumption of innocence in connection with the first-instance ruling on former President Yoon Suk Yeol, talked about cutting ties with the forces calling for a break with 'Yoon Again,' and spoke about the election system, which left many lawmakers shocked," adding, "Even so, there are also those who say we must understand the difficulties the party leader is shouldering, given that only 98 days remain until the election. That is why there was a shared view that we should gather all lawmakers in one place, hold an all-out debate, and, once the position converges to one side, unite in that direction for victory."

Regarding the NBS poll released that day (conducted from February 23 to 25 on 1,002 people nationwide, response rate 14.9%, telephone interviews, margin of error ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level), which showed the party’s approval rating at only 17%, Representative Um said, "It is a shock. It feels like the party's approval rating has not just hit rock bottom but gone underground," adding, "Among the 17% who support the People Power Party, about 70% of respondents reportedly answered that 'former President Yoon is innocent,' which suggests that our party is still far from winning the love of the people."

Representative Um went on to say, "In the end, I believe public sentiment is handing down a stern judgment on our party because we have not cut ties with former President Yoon, who carried out an illegal and unconstitutional martial law," and pointed out, "For election victory, this numerically confirms once again that we need to pursue Jeol-yoon and a break with 'Yoon Again.'"