Party reeling from local election defeat and staged attack scandal

New leadership to be chosen after Lee steps down

Cheon Ha-ram: 'We failed to offer deep reflection or solutions'

Cheon Ha-ram, acting leader and floor leader of the Reform Party, speaks at a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday. [Yonhap]
Cheon Ha-ram, acting leader and floor leader of the Reform Party, speaks at a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday. [Yonhap]

The Reform Party has begun the process of selecting new leadership to stabilize the party following the resignation of former leader Lee Jun-seok. The party plans to hold a national convention as soon as possible to reorganize and begin preparing for the 2028 general election.

Cheon Ha-ram, the floor leader serving as acting party leader, held a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday, saying the party would "calmly and methodically prepare for a national convention to elect the next leadership in accordance with the party constitution and bylaws, without disruption."

Lee stepped down Wednesday, citing political responsibility for the party's defeat in the June 3 local elections, among other setbacks. "Since the local elections, I have spent just over three months proposing ideas for the party's self-strengthening and renewal, but I was unable to win sufficient support within the party," he said. "The responsibility for failing to persuade others rests entirely with me as party leader."

Both inside and outside the party, observers say the Reform Party's foundations have been shaken by a combination of the local election defeat and the scandal surrounding Jung Seok-jun, the party's Busan mayoral candidate, who was found to have staged his own assault. The episode is also seen as having deepened a sense of helplessness within the party.

Lee, Cheon and policy committee chairwoman Lee Ju-young are said to have disagreed over which districts to contest in the next general election, though the differences are understood not to have escalated into open conflict.

On reports of internal tensions over the so-called "southern Gyeonggi Province strategy," Cheon said there had been "no conflict," but added that Lee "had raised the idea several times, and it seems there was not enough communication among members."

Cheon also offered a measure of self-criticism over the party's failure to reform itself. "Amid a string of setbacks and difficulties, we were unable to properly pull the party together, nor did we offer the kind of deep reflection and concrete measures that the public could accept," he said.

He added that Lee "took the lead more than anyone in thinking through ways to break through the crisis and proposed various reform measures," and went on to say, "I deeply reflect on my own shortcomings — for failing to debate reform more fiercely, to strive with greater urgency, and to steer the party through the crisis with more flexibility."

Cheon drew a firm line against any merger with the Democratic Party of Korea or the possibility of Lee joining the Democratic Party. "There is no one in the Reform Party pushing for a merger," he said. "There will be no change to the Reform Party's independent course as the only third party in the National Assembly not affiliated with either of the two major parties."

He went on to say the incoming leadership would "carry forward the party's unfinished work of renewal and reform in a more proactive and bold manner," and appealed to supporters not to withdraw their backing. "Please do not give up your support and expectations — so that this challenge for reform can take root again rather than end in failure," he said.

Lee also addressed the merger and defection rumors directly. In a Facebook post, he said he had decided to take legal action against "every broadcast panelist who spent days spreading false claims that I was joining the Democratic Party or that the Reform Party was merging with another party," on grounds of disseminating false information.


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