Former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon mourned former lawmaker Lee Sang-min, who died on the 15th. Lee was taken to a hospital from his home in cardiac arrest earlier that day but ultimately died.
Han wrote on Facebook that day, "I mourn Rep. Lee Sang-min, a true parliamentarian," recalling, "We spoke on the phone just the other day, and I can still hear his signature deep, kind voice saying, 'Don't get tired, and let's be sure to do good politics together.'"
He added, "Rep. Lee Sang-min was a remarkable politician," and said, "Ahead of the 4th general election, we worked hard to bring him into our party, which makes this all the more regrettable and heartbreaking."
Lee was born in 1958 in Daejeon, South Chungcheong, and at 6 months old contracted polio, leaving one leg disabled as a sequela. He graduated from the College of Law at Chungnam National University, passed the bar exam in 1992, and worked as a lawyer. He joined the Uri Party in 2003, won his first National Assembly seat in Daejeon's Yuseong-gu in the 17th general election, and went on to serve five consecutive terms through the 21st in 2020.
Lee was called by nicknames such as "perennial outsider" and "hardcore nonmainstream." In Dec. 2023, he left the Democratic Party of Korea after criticizing the "Lee Jae-myung personality cult," and in Jan. the following year he joined the People Power Party. The person who recruited Lee at the time was former leader Han. Since Jun. 2024, he had served as head of the People Power Party's Daejeon chapter.
Han said, "I will hold fast to the firm conviction we shared—that the people come first, and the country comes first, not a camp."