Lee Jin-suk: Party members, not lawmakers, should decide party leader's fate

People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-suk said Monday that decisions about the party leader's future should be left to party members, not lawmakers.

Appearing on CBS Radio that day, Lee drew a distinction between the two leadership positions. "I think lawmakers can decide what happens to the floor leader, but when it comes to the party leader, shouldn't it be the party members who decide — including those who took part in electing the leader and those who did not?" she said.

She added that party members are themselves citizens. "Party members are citizens, and citizens include party members. The current party leader was elected by party members — wasn't it 80 percent of them who chose the leader? So I tend to agree with the view that party members should be the ones to decide the leader's fate," she said.

Asked about the convention of a party leader stepping down after an election defeat, Lee said conventions are not fixed. "All conventions change — and I have seen that firsthand," she said. "When I compared the Democratic Party and the People Power Party on emergency committee formations, the PPP had overwhelmingly more of them."

She went on to say that the figures pointed to a deeper difference in how the two parties operate. "It means the Democratic Party has managed its affairs more stably, while the PPP has, relatively speaking, tended to be shaken whenever something happens," she said. "Party leaders should be allowed to serve out their terms. Let us set a new tradition."

On the divergence between floor leader Jung Seok-jun's emphasis on a "people-centered party" and party leader Jang's emphasis on a "member-centered party," Lee said both were right. "Floor Leader Jung's call to become a party of the people is correct, and so is the view that the party should be centered on its members," she said.

Lee also played down the significance of the disagreement. "If the party leader and the floor leader agreed on everything 100 percent, there would be no need for two of them," she said. "There is a wide spectrum of views among lawmakers as well. I attended the recent caucus meeting that dealt with this issue, and my assessment is that the differences are not that great."

On the composition of standing committees in the National Assembly, Lee criticized the Democratic Party's approach. "Of the 18 standing committee chairmanships, 11 were assigned unilaterally — the Democratic Party assigned them on its own and left seven, then told the PPP, 'Take them or leave them, otherwise we'll just go ahead on our own.' If that is not dictatorship, what is?" she said.