Doubted and ignored, conservative party's innovation committee calls it quits

Politics

Published: 07 Dec. 2023, 18:55 Updated: 07 Dec. 2023, 18:56

Doubted and ignored, conservative party's innovation committee calls it quits

Ihn Yo-han, chief of the People Power Party's innovation committee, speaks at the party's headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The chief of the conservative People Power Party's (PPP) innovation committee announced that the board had ended its activities earlier than scheduled on Thursday.

The committee, which launched on Oct. 26 in the aftermath of the PPP’s resounding defeat in a by-election to fill the top post at Gangseo District Office, was originally due to operate until Dec. 24 but terminated its operations early after some of its proposals were met with strong skepticism by the party’s leadership, according to local media reports.

Speaking to reporters at the PPP’s headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, innovation committee chief Ihn Yo-han said the advisory board had achieved a “50 percent success rate” by figuring out “what people want,” but said the “remaining 50 percent” of the reform process was up to the party’s leadership.

Ihn, a naturalized Korean who is also known by his English name John Linton, expressed gratitude to President Yoon Suk Yeol for carrying out an “early” Cabinet reshuffle, which he characterized as “opening doors for good candidates to run in the general election.”

Ihn also thanked PPP leader Kim Gi-hyeon for giving him the “opportunity” to head the innovation committee and allowing him to “learn how difficult politics is.”

According to Ihn, the innovation committee met 12 times and proposed several ideas for reforming the PPP, including scrapping membership suspensions for some party members and cutting the lowest-performing lawmakers from being nominated to run in the general election.

Before taking up the mantle of overhauling the party, Ihn had suggested that “many people in the PPP must step down, then listen, change and be willing to sacrifice.”

He had also warned that people in the party should be prepared to “change everything except for their wives and children,” echoing similar remarks by the late Samsung chief Lee Kun-hee at a time of upheaval at the company.

But according to party sources cited by local media, Kim strongly disagreed with some of the committee’s more far-reaching reform proposals.

One such recommendation called on prominent and senior members of the PPP to give up relatively safe seats and run instead for swing seats during the upcoming general election in April.

According to PPP insiders who spoke to local media, Ihn pressed the party to accept the plan as soon as possible to prepare its roster for the general election ahead of time, but Kim resisted the proposal.

The innovation committee is scheduled to submit its final report on how the party can best reform itself at a PPP leadership meeting due to take place on Monday.

Ihn is the great-grandson of the American Southern Presbyterian missionary Eugene Bell, who established several Christian churches and schools in southwestern Korea and also helped establish Jaejoong Hospital, currently Gwangju Christian Hospital, in 1905.

Ihn was born and raised in South Jeolla, a liberal-dominated region.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]