People Power Party's National Committee Chairman Suh Byung-soo, left, bangs the gavel to approve revisions to the party's charter allowing acting chairman Kweon Seong-dong, right, to name an interim chief, during a national committee meeting at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps

Young leader set to file injunction

By Nam Hyun-woo

Rep. Joo Ho-young / Korea Times file

The People Power Party (PPP) launched an emergency committee on Tuesday that will serve as its interim leadership, just three months after the ruling camp won the presidential election.

With the launch of the interim committee, the party's Chairman Lee Jun-seok, who has been butting heads with lawmakers close to President Yoon Suk-yeol after being suspended for six months from party affairs, will be unable to return to the chairmanship. As Lee is poised to file for a court injunction calling for the suspension of the party's transition to the interim leadership, more political upheavals are anticipated in the ruling party's ongoing power struggle.

The PPP's national committee held an online meeting at the National Assembly and amended the party's charter to allow acting chairman, Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, to appoint the head of the emergency committee. Following the revision, five-term Rep. Joo Ho-young was named as the interim chief after winning the unanimous approval of 73 lawmakers attending the party's Assembly member meeting.

Joo is considered a moderate conservative and is part of a group close to former President Lee Myung-bak. He served as the PPP's floor leader from 2020 to 2021 and also as acting interim chief of the party.

The transition came approximately three months after the PPP became the ruling party after President Yoon's May 10 inauguration. Also, it is the first time in 14 months for the party to have an interim leadership. The PPP appointed veteran politician Kim Chong-in as its interim chief after suffering a crushing defeat in 2020.

The emergency committee came in the wake of the ruling bloc's struggles in the past three months. While Yoon's rating continued to fall amid controversies surrounding him and the presidential office, the party was mired in factional infighting between pro-Yoon lawmakers and Lee, which peaked when the president's text messages portraying the young party leader as a troublemaker was captured in a photograph.

"Under the recognition that the party and the Yoon government are now in an emergency situation, we came up with the emergency committee plan in order to regain public trust as the ruling party and assist the Yoon government's stable management of state affairs," said Suh Byung-soo, the PPP's national committee head.

However, it remains uncertain whether the interim leadership can address the party's internal rift and worsening public sentiment towards the PPP, because opinions are mixed over how to form the emergency committee, how long will it last and how will it elect the next chairman.

The next chairman will likely exercise his or her right to recommend the party's candidates for the 2024 general elections.

People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok enters his office at the National Assembly in this June 22 file photo. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keun

As the emergency committee was launched, the party's existing leadership, including Lee, was dissolved as stated in the party's charter.

Lee is poised to protest the party's moves to marginalize him. He has already said that he will file a class-action court injunction suspending the PPP's transition to interim leadership.

Reportedly, more than 1,400 PPP members have participated in the campaign to oust Lee, who plans to hold a press conference on Saturday.