Revamp starts in chaotic opposition presidential campaign

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Revamp starts in chaotic opposition presidential campaign

People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is surrounded by reporters at the National Assembly in western Seoul after canceling all campaign activities Monday amid the announcement of a complete overhaul of the PPP election campaign committee. [NEWS1]

People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is surrounded by reporters at the National Assembly in western Seoul after canceling all campaign activities Monday amid the announcement of a complete overhaul of the PPP election campaign committee. [NEWS1]

The leaders of the election campaign committee for opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol offered their resignations Monday after weeks of chaos.
 
Kim Chong-in, general chairman of the campaign committee for the People Power Party (PPP), called for “a complete reorganization” in a meeting at the National Assembly to show the party is paying attention to public disgruntlement.  
 
Kim’s announcement led to a string of resignations throughout the day, including from Kim himself, all six heads of election committee divisions, as well as the PPP’s floor leader and a feminist politician who has been unpopular with the party’s younger male supporters. 
 
The overhaul comes after a drop in Yoon’s approval ratings and internal feuding over how the campaign should be run.
 
Kim said during a party caucus in the afternoon that he told Yoon, “Rather than general chairman of the campaign committee, I will act as your chief of staff until the election.” He added that he had asked Yoon for a “change in attitude” and to “stay on script.”  
 
Kim, often described as a presidential "kingmaker" and a former interim chief of the PPP, said, “I have experienced many elections in the past, and I always say that victory is possible if the candidate acts accordingly to what the campaign committee prepares for him.”
 
Later in the afternoon, Kim announced that he would step down as the campaign’s general chairman with six election subcommittee leaders including Lee Soo-jung, a campaign standing co-chair, and policy chief Won Hee-ryong.  
 
The PPP said in a statement that resignations were submitted by campaign chief Kim Chong-in and all senior officials including the six election subcommittee heads and Kim Han-gil, chairman of the PPP’s “new era preparatory committee.”
 
Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon also offered to resign as the party’s floor leader and as a standing co-chair of the election campaign committee, along with Rep. Kim Do-eup, the PPP’s chief policymaker, and Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, its deputy floor leader.  
 
Floor leader Kim said during a party caucus, “Now is not the time to blame others, and as floor leader, I decided to take the lead in the overhaul.” 
 
Earlier Monday, Yoon canceled campaign activities indefinitely to concentrate on the PPP’s campaign committee, with just over two months until the March 9 presidential election.  
 
Yoon told reporters later that day that he had not been informed beforehand of plans to overhaul the campaign.   
 
It was unclear if Yoon accepted the resignations as of the newspaper’s close Monday evening.
 
Yoon, who has been running neck-and-neck against the ruling Democratic Party’s candidate Lee Jae-myung, saw a significant drop in his approval ratings in multiple opinion polls released over the New Year’s holiday and Monday. The decline came after infighting within the PPP’s campaign, which culminated with PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok stepping down as a standing co-chair of the election committee on Dec. 21 amid a spat with an aide to Yoon.  
 
Controversy over Yoon’s wife Kim Keon-hee’s pumping up of her resume in the past and an apology that didn't seem to help contributed to public skepticism, especially among younger voters.  
 
Amid growing factionalism, some PPP members have expressed exasperation over Yoon’s unfiltered, off-message remarks, which led to Kim Chong-in saying Sunday he planned to oversee the candidate’s messaging and speeches.  
 
PPP chief Lee has constantly pushed to oust aides to Yoon from the election committee. He has recommended the replacement of the six heads of campaign subcommittees. Lee has also been critical of the election campaign's recruitment of Lee Soo-jung, a professor of criminal psychology from Kyonggi University, whom he believed could alienate young male supporters of the party who consider her to be an overly strident feminist.  
 
Shin Ji-ye, a 31-year-old feminist politician and a former Seoul mayoral candidate for the Green Party, stepped down from the campaign Monday.
 
A controversial pick from the start, Shin was named senior deputy chair of the PPP’s separate new era preparatory committee headed by Kim Han-gil, a close aide to Yoon, on Dec. 20, a move meant to appeal to female voters, but was unpopular with the party’s male supporters in their 20s and 30s. To take responsibility for Shin’s resignation, Kim Han-gil offered to resign the same day.  
 
Addressing Shin’s resignation, Yoon posted on Facebook Monday, “I failed to read the minds of those in their 20s and 30s with care.”
 
He said, “It was my fault for creating a controversy that should have been unnecessary in the first place,” claiming he had had "greatly disappointed the younger generation.” He wrote that the older generation “holds a complete different perspective” from the younger one.  
 
Shin wrote on her Facebook account, “I am stepping down from my position on the campaign committee, but I will do my best for a change of government.” She blamed PPP Chairman Lee for Yoon’s declining popularity, asking, “I want to ask Chairman Lee: What have you done up till now.” Shin has previously clashed with Lee over gender issues.  
 

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
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