The shaky Ihn-led innovation committee
Published: 31 Oct. 2023, 20:12
The first step Ihn took was to propose the lifting of party suspensions on former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and three-term lawmaker Kim Jae-won. The beneficiaries were offended rather than thankful for the pardon, as they questioned the fairness of the disciplinary action in the first place. Lee would regain his party membership (since his suspension would end in January), and Hong would not run in the next parliamentary election in April. The benefit would only help Kim, as his suspension lasts until June next year. They suspect the proposal only aims to clear the way for Kim, a politician loyal to President Yoo Suk Yeol, to run in the next election.
Ihn’s first act after taking the helm of the embattled party was to visit the Gwangju Democratization Movement cemetery to show his sympathy for the dead. But if he had visited manufacturing sites with poor working and living conditions and provincial universities suffering from a shortage of students, many living people could have appreciated his reforms.
It is too early to fold expectations. But Ihn would be eating away his own reputation if he continues making impulsive suggestions and correcting them if they irk party leadership or the president. He must ruminate on the meaning of innovation instead. The innovation committee was launched to help the party to regain public confidence after the PPP’s humiliating defeat in the by-election in Seoul.
Ihn must enact a sweeping nomination reform that changes, in his own words, everything “except for the wife.” The party-government relationship should be more productive. If the innovation committee ends up a mere figurehead, the PPP could face harsher public judgment in next year’s election.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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