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Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party, said on March 25 that winning Seoul and Busan—despite a range of difficult circumstances—is essential to establishing a foothold for the next general election and the subsequent presidential race.
Speaking on KBS’s Sasa GeonGeon that day, Jang responded to the host’s reference to former leader Han Dong-hoon’s reaction—“Are you saying the others should lose?”—by saying he did not believe anyone would fail to understand the intent of his remarks.
Earlier, when Jang set holding Seoul and Busan as his June 3 local election goals, Han criticized the focus, asking whether candidates running elsewhere were “just supposed to lose.”
Jang pushed back, noting that victories in the Seoul and Busan by-elections helped lay groundwork for a presidential win. He said highlighting the importance of those two regions does not mean the party performed well everywhere despite the challenges, and added that a party leader could not responsibly declare any region expendable.
“As party leader, my primary objective is to win everywhere,” he said, adding that he did not believe Han misunderstood that point.
On the controversy over the candidate cutoff for the Daegu mayoral nomination, Jang emphasized that Vice Chair Joo Ho-young has an important role to play for the People Power Party and in the National Assembly. He said that, as someone who has served the party through difficult times, Joo will again make decisions in the party’s interest.
Responding to claims that Joo and former Korea Communications Commission chair Lee Jin-sook were cut from consideration to prevent Han from running in the by-election, Jang dismissed the suggestion. “There is no way to stop former leader Han from running in a by-election if he chooses to do so,” he said, calling the idea that Joo’s exclusion was engineered with a specific candidate in mind “baseless speculation.”
Asked whether the party is struggling to recruit a candidate for governor of Gyeonggi Province, Jang said he could not name anyone in particular but pledged that, as party leader, he would work to open the door to stronger candidates and actively recruit talent to make the race winnable.
On criticism of Nomination Committee Chair Lee Jeong-hyun’s approach, Jang acknowledged clear disagreements but stressed the principle that the committee should make nominations independently. “If the party leader were simply going to dictate nominations, there would be no need for a nomination committee,” he said.
He added that if nominations were handled mechanically by applying numbers, the secretary-general and a single party official could complete the task. “It is appropriate to respect the nomination committee’s final decisions,” he said.
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