Woo Jae-jun, the People Power Party's youth supreme council member, renewed his call Friday for party leader Chang Dong-hyuk to step down. Woo pushed back after Chang signaled disciplinary action by naming Woo and other dissenting lawmakers, triggering yet another public clash within the party leadership.
At the party's supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Woo opened by saying, "Since the issue of my disciplinary action has come up, I will speak about problems within the party." He took direct aim at Chang, saying, "Our leadership talks about a 'one team,' but all I can remember is disciplinary action. I question whether our leadership is in a position to lead a one team right now. If everyone in the party looks like an enemy, I think it is time for me to stop being a leader." He stressed, "For our party to truly become one team, Chairman Chang should step down."
Woo pushed back, saying, "I said we should discuss the leadership's future after the election commission situation passed, but the answer that came back was things like, 'I will establish discipline. I will take disciplinary action. How much have you fought?'" He added, "I question whether anyone in our leadership has tried to persuade and engage in dialogue with party members who criticized them." He sharpened his criticism again, saying, "If you don't see any contribution and simply view someone who criticizes the leadership as an offender, that is already not a balanced perspective. Personally, I like Chairman Chang, but now is the time to stop."
Earlier, Chang signaled a "discipline crackdown" as he returned to party duties after being hospitalized due to a health problem. As part of the crackdown, he brought out the disciplinary card, and in a media interview, he criticized the conduct of Woo and lawmakers Kim Yong-tae and Kim Jae-seop by name. Within the party, there were predictions that Chang would soon begin disciplinary procedures against party reformers and figures aligned with the pro-Han (pro-Han Dong-hoon) faction.
In response to Woo's pointed remarks, supreme council members aligned with the party leadership pushed back strongly. Supreme council member Cho Kwang-han said, "A politician's language must have restraint and dignity," and pointed out, "Self-serving thoughts, judgments, and expressions lower a politician's own dignity and erode trust in politics."
Supreme council member Kim Min-soo strongly criticized Woo, saying, "I can't particularly recall anything Woo has done besides publicly insulting the party leader chosen by party members." He added, "I have never once seen him attend a closed-door supreme council meeting since the local elections ended, so what work has he done?" He raised his voice, saying, "Distinguish between what to say and what not to say in a public setting," and added, "If you talked about resignation while claiming to have a strong sense of responsibility, then resign yourself."
The People Power Party leadership also engaged in heated argument, exchanging shouts even after the meeting went into closed session. Emerging from the meeting, Woo explained the situation in which shouting was exchanged, telling reporters, "There were complaints about the repeated raising of issues (about the party leadership)." He also said, "(Chang) said he had never said he would specifically discipline three people, and said that he was speaking in principle that offending conduct should be subject to disciplinary action." Regarding his own call for resignation, he showed a cautious response, saying, "I am continuing to consider an appropriate role."
Supreme council member Shin Dong-wook said, "Supreme council meetings should not become a venue for constantly demanding the leader's resignation," adding, "I expressed concern that things should not be run this inefficiently." He also emphasized that it was a minority view, saying, "More than a dozen people attended the supreme council meeting, but (the resignation demand) is something one person is saying."
