Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
PPP innovation committee proposes age cap in party's proportional seats
People Power Party innovation committee head Ihn Yo-han listens to a speech during a committee meeting at the party headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
Party insiders urged to run in tough-to-win constituencies
The ruling People Power Party’s (PPP) innovation committee proposed to the party’s leadership that they allocate 50 percent of the proportional representation list for next year’s general elections to individuals aged below 45.
The decision came during a meeting at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. The committee, which was launched to overhaul the party after a crushing defeat in last month’s Seoul district head by-election, has been proposing a series of reform ideas to the PPP's leadership.
“We have proposed numerous ideas for rectifying past wrongdoings, and now it is time to discuss how we can encourage women and the younger generation to assume greater roles within the party and how we can actively listen to their voices,” committee head Ihn Yo-han said during its meeting.
Kim Kyung-jin, a former lawmaker and member of the innovation committee, said the age cap idea was aimed at “encouraging the younger generation’s participation in politics by giving them advantages in the proportional representation system.”
The committee also proposed to select a number of party strongholds and recommend candidates aged below 45 for those areas, in order to bring in budding politicians. The committee is yet to select the regions, and the party’s candidate recommendation committee will decide that, according to Kim.
“It is time for us to think about a generational shift, and we hope talented young people come to our party and show us what they have,” committee member Choi Anna said.
“Through consultation we will demand revisions to rules so that young people can participate in policy making and communication.”
Sidelining insiders
The committee said it will also discuss with the party's leadership about sidelining former secretaries and staffers of the presidential office from being recommended as candidates by the party. It added that if the aides do run for election, they should compete in hard-to-win constituencies.
This appears to be a way to prevent President Yoon Suk Yeol from having too much influence on the PPP's recommendation process for the general elections. More than 20 assistant secretaries and other staffers have stepped down in recent months to run in the general elections, and more are expected to follow.
The proposals are anticipated to add fuel to the growing fire of doubts and bickering from the party establishment.
Since its launch, the committee has proposed two key ideas for its reforms: cohesion between factions and sacrifice of party heavyweights.
For this, the committee recommended the party leadership reconcile with those on the party's fringes, such as former PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, which was accepted by the PPP's leadership.
The committee also asked party heavyweights, including PPP Chairman Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon and former floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young, to leave their constituencies and run in opposition-dominated areas in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province in the general elections next year.
Though the PPP chairman is yet to speak about the call, complaints are growing within the party’s mainstream over the effectiveness of the innovation committee’s drastic reform efforts.
Rep. Joo, a five-term lawmaker from Daegu, stated Wednesday that he will not leave his constituency, saying “U.S. President Joe Biden served as a senator for nearly 40 years but he never left his constituency, and it seems like Korea is obsessed with a weird idea.”