Lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong elected new PPP floor leader

Politics

Published: 10 Apr. 2022, 16:06

Lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong elected new PPP floor leader

People Power Party Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, right, cheers after being elected as the party's new floor leader, succeeding PPP Rep Kim Gi-hyeon, left, at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western, Seoul Friday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, a fourth-term lawmaker of the People Power Party (PPP) and a close aide of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, was elected the conservative party's new floor leader.

Kweon overwhelmingly defeated PPP Rep. Cho Hae-jin, a third-term lawmaker, 81 votes to 21 on Friday.

He replaces Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, who resigned as floor leader of the incoming ruling party Thursday.

Kweon's election is seen as putting weight behind Yoon within the party. Known to be one of Yoon's closest confidants, Kweon is a childhood friend of the president-elect. Kweon is a native of Gangneung in Gangwon, and Yoon's family visited Gangneung frequently in his youth. Yoon and Kweon are the same age, both born in 1960, and both served as prosecutors before entering politics.

Kweon served as Yoon's chief of staff and the PPP's secretary general in Yoon's campaign days before voluntarily resigning in January amid feuding within the party and a major reshuffling of the election campaign committee. Thus, Kweon is known as someone who can speak candidly and openly to Yoon.

Kweon will face a National Assembly where the ruling party will be in the minority after Yoon is inaugurated next month, with the liberal Democratic Party (DP) holding a majority of parliamentary seats. The PPP holds 110 seats while the DP holds 172.

"I will be a strong supporter of lawmakers," said Kweon. "When we work together, we can win the upcoming local elections and the general elections two years later."

The new floor leader is expected to focus on supporting the Yoon administration's state affairs and garnering support to legislate policies on people's livelihood.

Kweon Seong-dong [YONHAP]

Kweon said that the only way to break through the PPP's minority in the National Assembly is to win public support on policy issues.

He will have to lead his party on issues like getting parliamentary approval for Yoon's Cabinet nominees and passing a supplementary budget bill for Covid-19 relief and government reorganization plans once the new administration kicks off.

"One of the biggest reasons for the failure of previous government is that all the power was concentrated in the Blue House, and the party was reduced to the Blue House's Yeouido branch," Kweon said after his election as floor leader. "President-elect Yoon's promise to dismantle the Blue House and return it to the people stemmed from this awareness."

He referred to Yoon having no previous experience as a lawmaker in Yeouido's National Assembly, unlike previous presidents. Yoon has also pledged to move the presidential office closer to the people and open the Blue House compound to the public.

Kweon said, "We will be able to respond flexibly to various crises based on close cooperation with the party and government, as I am able to communicate easily with President-elect Yoon."

He added that he will "spare no bitter words" toward Yoon to keep him in check and "make sure that the president and the party do not deviate from the expectations of the people."

Yoon made a congratulatory call to Kweon later Friday.

"Let's work together so that the party and government can become a fantastic one-team for the people," Yoon told Kweon, according to his spokesperson. "As it is a difficult time with issues of economics and people's livelihoods piled up, I ask floor leader Kweon with his abundant experiences to smoothly encourage harmony within the party and governance between the ruling and opposition parties."

Kweon told Yonhap News on Sunday that he expects government reorganization plans to be submitted in July or August, after the June 1 local elections. Yoon's transition team announced Thursday that it will keep the current government's organizational structure for now in order to prioritize more urgent pending issues including security and economy.

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