People Power Party lawmaker Lee Seong-kwon said Wednesday he "120 percent agrees" with calls for a conservative alliance that would include independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok.
Speaking on YTN Radio, Lee said the margin when former President Yoon Suk Yeol defeated President Lee Jae Myung was just 0.73 percentage points. "That was truly a victory by a coalition that brought together the conservative camp and even the centrists," he said, citing that result as the basis for his support of a renewed alliance.
He said the party now faces a major nationwide general election and must rebuild that coalition, but added that PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok "has no intention whatsoever of forming one." "He is instead moving to purge even the coalition forces within the party, and that is deeply regrettable," Lee said.
On the question of Han rejoining the party, Lee said Jang should allow it regardless of whether his leadership survives. "Whether or not the Jang Dong-hyeok structure collapses, if Chairman Jang is confident and self-assured, he should let Han back in," he said. Lee added that since joining a conservative party, he has sensed that sitting Assembly members "seem to have a phobia toward former Chairman Han Dong-hoon."
He said members acknowledge Han as "a valuable asset" but appear to fear the political costs they might personally face if he were back inside the party. "That is a problem former Chairman Han himself needs to solve," Lee said.
Lee, who serves as secretary of the PPP's reform-minded internal group "Alternative and Future," described Jang's approach as "discipline politics" and said the group had sent a clear message. "If things continue this way, our party will inevitably lose the next general election and presidential election," he said. "Alternative and Future put out the message that if discipline politics is intensified, we will not stand by and watch."
He went on to say the group could circulate a petition if necessary, and said vigorous internal debate over the party's direction is a sign of a healthy organization. "If the party leader or leadership is on the wrong course, fighting fiercely over that direction is what a living party does," he said.
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