The ruling People Power Party 'two-top' leaders, Kwon Young-se, emergency response committee chairman, and Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader, visited President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is imprisoned on charges of 'motivation for insurrection' at the Seoul Detention Center on the 3rd and conveyed their intentions. This is the first time the ruling party leadership has met with President Yoon since the passage of the impeachment motion against him. Although the two said it was a personal visit, some within the party are criticizing it as inappropriate behavior.
That day, President Yoon met with Kwon and Kwon Seong-dong, as well as Na Kyung-won, a member of the National Assembly, for about 30 minutes at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. During the meeting, President Yoon reportedly urged them to unite as a party and to gather public sentiment well, so that they can play a significant role in leading the country.
Chairman Kwon explained President Yoon's remarks, saying it means 'the party should not show signs of division and should act in unison.' He emphasized that this is a general message to the party leadership. Additionally, he commented, 'I hope there is no misunderstanding that the President himself is steering the party's direction.'
The meeting between the party leadership and President Yoon is the first since the passage of the impeachment motion in the National Assembly and the establishment of the 'Kwon Young-se emergency response system.' The party leadership did not attend when about 40 ruling party lawmakers gathered for an anti-impeachment rally in front of the government residence during the investigation and issuance of an arrest warrant for President Yoon. This time, they explained that they scheduled the visit for 'humanitarian reasons.'
However, some in the political sphere analyze the party leadership's decision to visit President Yoon as a strategic move to strengthen the conservative support base that has recently driven the party's approval ratings. This is seen in the context of not clearly distancing themselves from the chaos that occurred at the Seoul Western District Court during the issuance of President Yoon's arrest warrant, which seems to embrace hard-line conservatives. Chairman Kwon also commented on the need to distance from hard-right factions, stating, 'It is not appropriate to speak of distancing from any certain force.'
Given these circumstances, both inside and outside the party, there are considerable voices suggesting that the close relationship between the party leadership and President Yoon is inappropriate, especially as Yoon's side repeatedly asserts its justifications without reflection on the December 3rd martial law incident.
Kim Jae-seop, the party's chief of organizational development, met with reporters that day and commented on the party leadership's meeting with President Yoon, stating, 'The emergency response committee should be one that engages in innovative competition rather than being bogged down by the past, but the act of visiting the President gives a feeling of being stuck in the past.' He further added, 'I have concerns about the party moving to the right.'
Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min also noted during an MBC radio broadcast that, 'If the Constitutional Court rules for impeachment and we have to hold a presidential election, we will have to assert our party's opposition to impeachment and claim it was not insurrection, and argue that martial law was unconstitutional and illegal. How can we then gain the support of the centrist voters?'
Lawmaker Jo Kyung-tae told ChosunBiz in a phone interview that, 'It is important how our party positions itself regarding the President who imposed unconstitutional martial law, and we need to carefully consider what efforts will help us recreate power. Ultimately, if we cannot win the hearts of the centrist electorate and the majority of the public, it is natural that recreating power will be far-fetched.'