'Winning 2028 general election is the task of our era'

'Stoking controversy over Han's return is inappropriate'

People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook said Wednesday that the upcoming party leadership election would not turn into a proxy contest.

Shin, the PPP's chief supreme council member, made the remarks during an appearance on YTN Radio, pushing back against speculation that the convention would produce a surrogate candidate. "People keep saying someone will put forward a proxy — that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's return to the Seoul mayor's office has secured a safety net and so a proxy for him will emerge, or that a proxy for former party leader Han Dong-hoon will appear," he said.

Shin went on to say, "The task of our era is winning the 2028 general election. I trust that party members will make their choice based on what kind of leadership they believe is best suited to deliver that victory."

Asked whether Party Leader Jang Dong-hyeok could win a second term, Shin said he genuinely did not know. "If you ask me to predict whether Jang would succeed if he ran for re-election, I honestly have no idea," he said. "As for whether the current party leader is the right person for the job, that is not a question I can answer."

On the question of Han Dong-hoon's return to the party, Shin said stoking excessive controversy over the matter was inappropriate. "I do not agree with the idea that Han Dong-hoon alone, as a single individual, simply needs to walk back into the People Power Party," he said.

He added that the existential question of whether to rejoin was one Han himself needed to wrestle with, not the party. "I want no part of a discussion about rejoining that involves loading a boxing glove with rocks," he said.

On the possibility of Oh building a faction within the party, Shin said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon would find it difficult to formally participate in the leadership race given his current position. "I do not think he will engage in the kind of politics where he lines up his own faction for the next general election," he said.

Shin also rebuffed criticism that the PPP was becoming a "Yoon Again" party. "Not a single mainstream lawmaker or mainstream party member has told me we need to go 'Yoon Again,'" he said. "I feel insulted when even PPP insiders use the expression, 'Can't our party really become a Yoon Again party?'"


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