Precarious battle between Lee vs. Yoon continues

The People Power Party is in a precarious situation. The leader of the party keeps engaging in heated arguments with a prominent presidential candidate while other presidential candidates are also jumping in. Their arguments are as childish as they can get. They are full of emotional expressions, ridicule, and sarcasm.

“The dolphin should also attend the party’s debate,” Lee posted on social media on Wednesday. Rep. Chung Jin-suk who endorses Yoon compared him to a dolphin and other candidates to anchovies and mackerels, saying that the dolphin, anchovy, and mackerel have different backgrounds of growing up. It was an inappropriate analogy. However, Lee’s response of publicly criticizing Chung as a “hyena who instigate desire for power” is also frivolous.

Lee’s achievement of bringing new attention to the People Power Party as a leader in his 30s who has not won a single election should be recognized. However, many people are concerned about the risks he is posing. The biggest responsibility of the party leader during a presidential election is to manage presidential primaries in a fair and objective manner. It is hard to understand why the party leader is publicly arguing with certain presidential candidates. He should refrain from posting mockery on social media at any chance he encounters.

Yoon should also be more prudent. He provoked Lee by abruptly joining the party, refusing to attend the party’s internal events, and belittling primary debates as a “mass debate.” “Even if it is the party leader’s decision, even if it is a president’s, shouldn’t they be impeached if the decision is not based on the Constitution and laws?” said a member of Yoon’s presidential camp, which crossed a line by far. Even if he has the highest approval rating among all presidential candidates of the opposition party, it is Yoon’s responsibility for appearing to be demanding special treatment as a new joiner of the party.

In addition, former party leader Hong Joon-pyo compared party members who support Yoon as lemmings who follow a dolphin. “Is Yoon’s version of justice that of the animal kingdom?” Governor of Jeju Province Won Hee-ryong also said. A battle of policy visions is hard to find in such an “animal kingdom.” Even under such circumstances, they are raising their voice for the “change of government” and “gaining power back.”