The Surging News reporter Wang Xinran
Backpacks, striped shirts, sleek leather shoes, brisk pedals on shared bikes – this rather youthful outfit is hard to associate with the term "South Korea's largest opposition leader." In fact, this is an "inherent match" of the new party leader Lee Joon-seok, newly elected by the South Korean National Power Party on June 11 this year.
Lee Joon-seok, born in 1985, has been in the spotlight lately, and he has created a wind of alternation between old and new in South Korea, which has gained momentum since May and continues to ferment to this day. South Korea's largest opposition party, the National Power Party, held a party congress on the 11th, and Lee Joon-seok, 36, was elected as the party leader. For the first time in South Korea's constitutional history, a party leader under the age of 40 was born.
Also in the spotlight with him is the National Power Party, commonly referred to as the "Old People's Party," but after injecting "new energy," its party's approval ratings hit an all-time high since the 2016 scandal over former South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye.
On June 25, Lee Joon-seok came to power for exactly two weeks. His series of "innovative models" have sparked various discussions, and as the head of the party, whether he can lead the National Forces Party to "perfectly march" for next year's general election has also attracted considerable attention. Although in the fierce collision of "change and change", it is still unknown whether the National Power Party can continue to innovate, but now that the curtain of the South Korean general election has been lifted, it is worth looking forward to whether the National Power Party can "accept the recruitment".
On the morning of June 13, Lee Joon-seok rode a shared bicycle to the National Assembly Hall in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District to start work. JoongAng Daily Chart
Can't get rid of Park Geun-hye's conservatives
In October 2016, Park Geun-hye fell into the "cronies of the government", and as one scandal after another was exposed, South Korean society also fell into a boil. At that time, tens of thousands of people took to the streets with candlelight to hold a large-scale rally to demand that Ms. Park step down and find out the truth of the incident, and Ms. Park's New National Party was also questioned, prompting a large number of people to call for "dissolution."
"Cronies interfering in politics" not only caused social anger, but also controversy within the New National Party, when the party's opinions on whether to support Park Geun-hye became more and more severe, and fell into a split situation in which "pro-park factions" and "anti-park factions" criticized each other. Lee Joon-seok, who has always been close to Ms. Park, was firmly on the side of supporting Herki's impeachment. At the end of December of the same year, Lee Joon-seok and more than 30 other "anti-park" lawmakers announced their withdrawal from the New National Party, which was the first time in South Korea's history that a conservative party split and also severely hit the power of the New National Party.
Since then, the retired legislators have "established themselves on their own" and in early 2017 confirmed the name of the new party as "right party". "'Zheng' symbolizes the pursuit of fairness and justice, aiming to re-establish the image of incorruptibility of conservative forces." The party explained this at the time and apologized for "cronies interfering in politics", saying that it was deeply responsible for failing to prevent the president from violating the Constitution and interfering in government. It is worth mentioning that in order to reshape the image to deal with the intra-party crisis caused by President Park Geun-hye's "cronies interfering in politics", the New National Party was later renamed the "Free Korea Party".
On November 12, 2016, more than 1,500 south Korean civic groups held a candlelight rally in Seoul to demand park geun-hye's resignation. Visual China figure
When the "Zhengyi Party" was first established, it proposed to "listen to the voices of the people and soothe the wounds of the people", but things did not go as smoothly as expected. In the 2017 general election, although the party has "drawn a clear line" with the former ruling party, the party's presidential candidate Liu Chengmin's overly conservative views on issues such as diplomacy and security have led to his support rate remaining low. Korea Radio International (KBS) reported that the "defeat" of the general election that year caused serious infighting among the main party, and many lawmakers debated the party's policies, and by the end of 2017, the main party's seats in the South Korean parliament were reduced to 9 seats.
In February 2018, in order to strengthen the middle camp, the Party decided to merge with the Center-Left Kuomintang and named the new party "The Party of the Future".
Although the Chin-Edo Party has always sought to become a "third force" to compete with the ruling Common Democratic Party and the largest opposition party at the time, the Liberal Korea Party, its support has continued to be hit after successive defeats in local elections in the same year, a lack of results in 17 mayoral and major mayoral elections, and a third place in Ahn Chul-so's bid for mayor of Seoul.
Since then, a number of MPs have broken away from the Positive Future Party and in early 2020 have successively formed the Forward to the Future 4.0 (Forward Party) and the New Conservative Party, and in February of the same year, the two parties and the Liberal Korea Party jointly formed the "Future Unity Party", and the Korean conservative camp finally regrouped after more than 3 years of division.
According to Yonhap News Agency, although the "Future Unification Party" was clearly "cut off" with Park Geun-hye when it was formed, because the backbone of the party was still a cadre of the former Liberal Korea Party, it failed to boost popular support after its establishment, and lost miserably in the parliamentary elections at that time. In an effort to reverse the decline in public opinion, the party changed its name to the National Forces Party in September last year.
"Our party has given people the negative impression of being behind the times, safeguarding vested interests, and fighting among factions, and in the future it will have the courage to innovate, lead the changes of the times, and breathe with the people." At the time of the name change, Kim Jong-in, then chairman of the National Forces Party's Emergency Countermeasures Committee, said. In December 2020, the National Forces Party apologized for the incidents involving former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak. Kim Jong-in said at the time that the arrest and imprisonment of two former presidents, Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, was pathetic and shameful; the tragedy could not be allowed to repeat itself, and mistakes would be reflected on and personnel reform would be promoted.
The National Power Party, commonly known as the "Old People's Party," includes many party members with rich political experience and many years in the National Assembly, and the brand of "Park Geun-hye" has not been eradicated under many splits and mergers. Under this influence, how to change the people's minds has always been the topic of discussion within the party, and the different opinions of various factions still need to be tempered.
Can the National Forces Party be "reborn"?
In March this year, the employees of the South Korean state-owned enterprise Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and civil servants of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism came to light, causing an uproar, which caused the support rate of south Korea's ruling party, the Common Democratic Party, to drop again and again, and South Korea's public opinion gradually shifted to the National Power Party. The party has since seized mayorships in Seoul and Busan in a re-election of South Korean local government leaders and lawmakers on April 8, winning landslide victories in most constituencies.
But does the rise in support necessarily reflect popular praise for the National Forces? There is also a clear understanding within the National Forces party – the party's rising support has also benefited in part from people's antipathy towards the ruling party.
In this context, how to "catch the voters" for a long time has become a topic, South Korea's "East Asia Daily" has also analyzed that under the "conditional support", if the National Power Party can not change the negative impression of the past through innovation and "rebirth", the people can withdraw their support at any time. After the vote in the by-election, if the National Power Party still does not have a long-term plan for national issues and still carries out the "old way" of the party power struggle, it will also trigger the disappointment of the South Korean people.
In June this year, Lee Joon-seok's election as the head of the National Power Party shook the entire electorate, and the National Power Party's voice that "seems to be changing" has also been amplified in the hearts of the people. The new party leader also had considerable results, with the support of the nationalist forces approaching an all-time high of 39.1 percent after Lee Joon-seok came to power, widening the gap with the ruling Common Democratic Party to nearly 10 percentage points. Another NK member told the Korea Times that the number of new members of the party at all ages has been increasing in recent days, and it is particularly noteworthy that the increase in the number of party members aged 20 to 30 is particularly obvious.
On June 11, Lee Joon-seok was elected as the head of the party with 43.8 percent of the vote
Yonhap News Agency quoted South Korean polling agency Realmeter as saying that Lee Joon-seok's election presents an opportunity for the new generation to change the conservative image of the National Power Party stigmatized as "old-age politics." As a young opposition leader, Lee Joon-seok's challenge to changes in South Korean politics has filled the public with expectations.
After taking office as the head of the party, Li Junxi did not "live up" to the expectations given to him by all walks of life, and a series of proposals given have aroused heated discussion.
National Forces officials said last week that the party would select new teams of speakers in the form of a debate tournament for a three-week public interview to recruit two party secretaries and two deputy spokesmen.
All people aged 18 and over will be invited to participate in the audition, and applicants will be asked to submit a short self-comment on three topics, accompanied by a video clip commenting on current events. The National Forces Party will select 100 of the expected 1,000 applicants to participate in stress interviews conducted by Lee Joon-seok, 16 of whom will conduct two rounds of debates on June 27 and 30, respectively, and after layers of screening, finally won four speakers' seats in the final round of debates on July 7.
"This is part of the promise Lee Joon-seok made during his campaign for the head of the party ... The NDF has never before selected a spokesperson in such a way. The Korea Times report commented on this, and Lee Joon-seok himself said that using this new method rather than the traditional way of selection can promote the renewal of the party's internal culture and give every member a fair opportunity.
At the same time, Lee Joon-seok also made another "unexpected" proposal, in view of the upcoming local elections to be held next year, he proposed to pass the qualification examination to select candidates. According to the Korea Times, the qualification exam consists mainly of computer skills, speech skills and reading comprehension, and the idea is mainly to "fairly" select candidates without considering their age, political experience and party ties.
Despite the support expressed by some party figures, the proposal has sparked controversy.
"Not being good at using Excel and disqualification, what does the relationship between the two ... If the school says that only those who pass the qualifying examination will be allowed to be class presidents, who will agree? South Korea's Justice Party lawmaker Jang Hye-young pointed out that it is up to voters to decide who should be the candidate. Other observers point out that other qualifications such as having a high sense of morality are more important than computer skills.
"The 'Lee Joon-seok phenomenon' is the only way to overcome rifts and hostilities and lead society towards reunification... By not clinging to his personal ways and making himself more flexible, he can free Korean politics from the paradox of incompetence and immorality. South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo pointed out in its article that how long the "Lee Joon Seok phenomenon" can last depends on Lee Joon Seok himself, but if he continues to advocate the "law of the jungle" (the law of the jungle, the strong eat all), and turns a deaf ear to legitimate critical voices, the "Lee Joon Seok phenomenon" will eventually disappear into invisibility.
Will the "great unity of the opposition parties" be realized?
Lee Ka-sung, an associate professor at Liaoning University's School of International Relations, once told the www.thepaper.cn that the negative impression of the Kuomintang itself in South Korean politics has been infinitely magnified due to the previous impact of Park Geun-hye. From the perspective of the party's self-renewal, it is also necessary to have a "new face" as the head of the party to represent the National Power Party. In a sense, it may be possible to give people the feeling of "new people and new atmosphere" and get rid of some negative impressions of the past.
To what extent Lee Joon-seok can lead the National Power Party out of its negative impression remains to be seen, but the trend of change within the party cannot escape another big backdrop – the 20th South Korean presidential election to be held next year.
At present, former South Korean Prime Minister Ding Se-jun, Kyodo Democratic Party Park Yong-jin, and former Minister of Justice Cho Mi-ae have officially announced their candidacy, while Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung, former DPGO party leader Lee Lo-won, and National Power Party member Hwang Joon-woo (who reinstated his party membership on June 24) are also favorable candidates identified by the people. Another former South Korean attorney general, Yoon Seok-yue, who has been hotly discussed but has not yet officially announced his candidacy, may officially announce his candidacy for president next week, according to Yonhap News Agency reported on June 24.
Yoon Seok-yue Photo credits Yonhap News Agency
Yoon Seok-yue has been in the spotlight since March this year, and he has jumped to the top of the poll results several times. According to a poll released by Realmeter on June 24, Yoon Seok-yue led the way with 32.3% approval, becoming the hottest candidate for the next South Korean presidency. However, because Yin Xiyue has not yet joined any political party, observers have speculated more, and there are even reports speculating that Yin Xiyue will join the National Power Party.
"After Yoon Seok-yue resigned, there was news that he would join the National Forces Party... Nor is there a strong candidate for the presidency within the National Forces. Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" reported that Yin Xiyue had secret contacts with several members of the National Forces Party in May this year. In addition, Yin Xiyue's spokesman also said in response to the party's entry into the party that "all options are open and will follow the path directed by the people."
"Although Yin Xiyue's support rate continues to rise, his political experience is still insufficient, the political foundation is not solid, and if he can rely on the National Force Party, it is also a 'ship of extradition' for Yin Xiyue." The Daily News reported that.
Similarly, there is no shortage of discussions about Yoon in the National Forces Party. As early as the beginning of this year, Kim Jong-in told Yoon Seok-yue that he had "seized the moment when the stars shine" and that the opportunity to challenge the next presidential election had arrived. At the time of the party's leadership election, there was a heated discussion about whether to "bring in" candidates from outside the party.
It is worth mentioning that soon after his election, Lee Joon-seok threw an olive branch to people outside the party. On the 14th of this month, he put forward the "big tent theory in the opposition circle", saying that candidates from inside and outside the opposition circle should be "pulled" into the Kuomintang party, and said that the great unity of the opposition circles with the national power as the core is "surfacing".
In addition, Li Junxi also made a clear invitation to Yin Xiyue. According to the Chosun Ilbo, the National Power Party is expected to hold a presidential alternate election in September this year, and Lee Joon-seok hinted in a previous interview that Yoon Seok-yue's final party was time, saying that by mid-August, many people should have "enough time to make political decisions."
According to Yonhap News Agency, Yoon Seok-yue said that he would announce the direction of future activities on the afternoon of June 29, which indicated that he would officially announce his participation in politics and indicate his willingness to run for president. After indicating his willingness to run, will Yin Xiyue join the National Forces Party as predicted by many parties? If it does join, how will the National Forces Party develop in the future? In addition, with the intensification of competition between the government and the opposition, what kind of trend will the general election next year develop towards? With the election less than eight months away, the curtain has slowly lifted on South Korean politics.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Wuwei
Proofreader: Luan Meng