People Power Party Chairperson Yoon Hee-sook noted on the 24th regarding former President Yoon Suk-yeol's 12.3 emergency martial law situation that "People Power Party is deeply regretting it now" and "I sincerely apologize to the people."
Chairperson Yoon stated during a broadcasted speech on the policies of the 21st presidential election aired on KBS that "the behavior of People Power Party was so shameful that we couldn't hold our heads up."
He pointed out the hierarchical relationship between the party and the president during the term of former President Yoon, mentioning that "politics that aligns with power ultimately leads to disastrous outcomes like martial law," and added, "The party was so complacent that the president would not have notified the party in advance about the martial law plan. If he had, many within the party would have rushed to Yongsan to prevent it at all costs."
Chairperson Yoon mentioned that "two party leaders were forcibly removed by keeping an eye on the president's mood, and dozens of members of the National Assembly circulated a petition to suppress candidates running in the party leader primary," pointing out that pro-Yoon members were manipulating party authority through petitions.
He also targeted former President Yoon's actions after his impeachment, stating, "The president, who returned home after being impeached not long ago, said, 'I returned victorious,'" and added, "I don't know what he thinks he has won, but what is left in the party is only deep despair and the people's disregard."
Chairperson Yoon, however, also asserted that the emergency martial law situation stemmed from the extreme conflict with the National Assembly, stating, "The martial law is not the beginning of all this, but rather a result of the unbearable and familiar pus of our politics."
He said, "As soon as the new government took office three years ago, the majority party began to pressure for the president's impeachment on that very day," and continued, "No matter how calmly you look at it, the last three years have been a state of anarchy where the majority party has incapacitated the government with its number of seats." He added, "If the politics remain the same, what would change just because the regime changes?"
Chairperson Yoon emphasized that "the new leader of South Korea to be installed in June must play a role in clearing a new board so that politics suitable for the people's level can finally begin, allowing the Korean economy to take another leap forward," while naming "normalizing the state and stabilizing the economy" as the top priority for the next government.
He stated that the next president must "declare from the first day of taking office to abandon party affiliation, thus proclaiming themselves as the first citizen rather than the first party member." He also mentioned that this "people's president" should rectify this abnormal crisis and immediately step down as a 'three-year president' and said, "To end this miserable politics, we can no longer postpone the constitutional amendment to restructure the rights and responsibilities of the president and the National Assembly."
Chairperson Yoon said, "Our politics must now excise the rotten parts. Simply hitting one side because it is disliked is like putting a band-aid on pus," and stated, "If politicians, who have exploited factional politics more viciously than anyone else and invoked hatred and division, remain as they are, will we not see a repetition of hateful politics like now?"