The 'First Meeting' of the People Power Party's youth faction publicly requested Emergency Response Committee Chairperson Kim Yong-tae to hold a joint meeting of national party committee chairpersons to discuss party reform and the restructuring of the leadership system following the presidential election defeat.
The First Meeting issued a statement after a forum at the National Assembly late on 5th, stating, "Our party faced impeachment of the president and the loss of power due to a wrong decision made under the leadership of the National Assembly, and we demand the immediate convening of a joint meeting of national party committee chairpersons to discuss all issues including party reform and restructuring of the leadership system."
It also asked, "Please decide future major party positions including outside party committee chairpersons."
The First Meeting criticized, "Although outside party committee chairpersons have fought harder than anyone else in various elections, they have not even had a proper opportunity to express their opinions during the state of emergency, impeachment, and presidential election period," adding, "Until now, our party's position has been decided by senior lawmakers from specific regions, and the opinions of party members who have suffered due to these decisions have been thoroughly ignored."
At the meeting, attendees expressed disagreement with the internal party evaluation that they had obtained an unexpectedly high vote share in the presidential election defeat.
Representative Kim Jae-seob (Dobong-gap, Seoul) remarked in his opening statement, "Listening to the People Power Party's evaluation of this presidential election, it seems they often say 'we fought well despite losing,'" adding, "In regions where former President Yoon had a significant victory, we saw a drastic drop in support this time. The gap with the last presidential election was around 15 percentage points in Dobong, Nowon, and Gangbuk. It should be seen as a decisive defeat."
Representative Kim said, "We need to throw off the 'we fought well despite losing' frame and calmly reflect on this election and think about how our party should move forward," adding, "If there is work to be done in the National Assembly, I will make an effort."
Representative Woo Jae-jun (Bukgu, Daegu) stated, "I do not see this presidential election defeat as simply a matter of the state of emergency. There were many deficiencies in various responses after the state of emergency. This is closely related to our party's chronic issues," noting, "Especially in the TK (Daegu and North Gyeongsang) region, I feel there are more problems."
The statement included the names of 11 attendees from that day's meeting: Representatives Kim Jae-seob, Woo Jae-jun, Kim So-hee, Attorney Kim Yeon-gi, former Presidential Office administrator Kim In-gyu, Chairperson Na Tae-geun, Attorneys Park Sang-su, Seol Joo-wan, Chairperson Lee Jae-young, Chairperson Lee Jong-cheol, and Attorney Jeon Sang-beom.