People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on the 23rd warned, "If a candidate engages in the act, I will replace them immediately." It is seen as a resolve to block internal division ahead of the local elections and to establish election discipline.
In closing remarks at the supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, that morning, Jang said, "From now on, the act could be fatal to the election," and stated accordingly.
Referring to the point that the local elections are 41 days away, Jang emphasized, "An army with broken discipline can never win a battle," and "Now we must properly identify whom we are fighting."
Jang announced that he had taken steps to have each city and provincial party form an election countermeasures committee (election committee). In regions where metropolitan mayoral or gubernatorial candidates have been decided, he instructed the city and provincial parties and the candidates to form the election committee through consultation.
He said, "These measures are routine procedures that occur every local election," adding, "While watching the conclusion of nominations, we will also form the central election committee."
Jang's remarks came as criticism toward the party leadership was growing. The previous day, Kim Jin-tae, who was confirmed as the People Power Party candidate for Gangwon governor, told Jang, who visited the field in Gangwon Province, "I hope you return to the splendid Jang Dong-hyeok of the past. It is necessary to tie up the loose ends."
There was also an interpretation that the remarks were aimed at a series of arguments that the People Power Party should not nominate a candidate in the Busan Buk-gap National Assembly by-election in consideration of former leader Han Dong-hoon, who, after being expelled from the party, made official his independent run.
Reports said that Park Heong-joon, Kim Doo-kyum and Park Wan-su, who were confirmed the previous day as People Power Party candidates for Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang, were "discussing a request for no nomination for the Busan Buk-gap by-election," and all three candidates' camps denied it as "groundless."