Kwon Seong-dong: "The person who spoke frankly to Yoon Seok-yeol… The emergency martial law is an illegal choice"

On the 12th, Kwon Seong-dong, the floor leader of the People Power Party, revealed his stance on his relationship with former President Yoon Seok-yeol and the emergency martial law during a press conference for his retirement.

Kwon emphasized that he was a person who did not hesitate to speak frankly to former President Yoon, criticizing the declaration of emergency martial law as "an illegal martial law" and "a politically extremely wrong choice."

"Illegal martial law"

However, he stated that regarding Yoon's recruitment, "Looking back, it was the best choice."

He explained, "If we look back three years, there were no competitive presidential candidates in our party," asserting, "In that context, I have no regrets about bringing former President Yoon into our party and achieving a change of government; I believe that choice was the best at that time."

Kwon also noted, "I played a significant role in the birth of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, and since then, I've always been associated with the terms 'pro-Yoon' and 'Yoon's inner circle'," but added, "I have never flattered the president nor received any special favors."

He mentioned that he had voiced criticisms to President Yoon several times, which led him to give up running in the party leadership election midway.

Role in the impeachment context and 'the poisoned chalice'

Regarding his candidacy for floor leader during the impeachment context, Kwon described it as drinking "the poisoned chalice" to prevent division within the party.

He stated, "I thought that even if President Yoon Seok-yeol left, the party must survive," and said, "Initially, we tried to maintain a united front and delay the passage of the impeachment bill as much as possible."

He particularly referenced the situation at the time, mentioning that Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, was facing a second trial for violating the Public Office Election Act. He explained, "It was a judgment that would have a significant impact on the election. While hoping for a fair ruling from the judiciary, we needed to delay the passage of the impeachment bill."

Kwon added, "We had to buy time to create a more favorable landscape in the early presidential election, and I believed that only with such hope could our party survive."

Evaluation of the election defeat and the emergency martial law

Regarding the recent election defeat, Kwon assessed, "The Democratic Party fielded a candidate full of flaws and yet united to win the presidency," while "we faced defeat despite presenting a much better candidate, Kim Moon-soo, due to division and animosity."

He emphasized, "Even if there are political differences normally, we needed to form a united front before the major election."

Kwon criticized former President Yoon's declaration of emergency martial law, stating, "The fact that he declared emergency martial law without consulting the party is extremely wrong, and that was the biggest misstep of this election."

Views on Han Dong-hoon and Hong Joon-pyo

Kwon assessed the relationship between former President Yoon and former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon as "an inseparable relationship of over 20 years." He mentioned, "There are many similarities in their characters and work styles." He then advised Han, "If he could develop a bit more ability to communicate and empathize and learn to compromise through coordinating opinions with party members, it would be even better."

Regarding former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, he remarked, "It would take more than 30 minutes to discuss if we were to talk, but what can we say to someone who is already retired from politics? (The things that former Mayor Hong continuously mentions) can be considered as his personal opinions."

However, he refuted Hong's claim that "the events of supporting insurrection and forced candidate replacement meet the criteria for unconstitutional party dissolution," stating, "It is an excessively excessive and incorrect claim from a legal and factual perspective."

Image source: News1, Former President Yoon / News1