윤한 긴장으로 눈을 돌리다

The series of conflicts between President Yoon Seok-yeol and his political lieutenant Han Dong-hoon took a new focus as the ruling People’s Party’s new chairman, Han, won a landslide victory at the party’s national convention on Tuesday.

Han has clashed repeatedly with Yoon’s office in Seoul as he leads the ruling party’s campaign for the April 10 general election.

In early July, Han left office, saying, "It is wrong to interfere with the party's state convention in this way," and Ms. Kim Yeon-hee sent him an unanswered text message, citing a media leak of the text messages. The presidential office disputed Han's claim that she "did not interfere" with the ruling party leadership's election campaign.

Kim sent Han more than five text messages in January that were allegedly hidden cameras in 2022.

Meanwhile, in January, Han said that Yoon's then-Chief of Staff Lee Kwan-seok had suggested that he step down from the party's leadership. January was also when he publicly asked Kim to apologize to the public over the Dior bag scandal.

These incidents sparked media speculation that Yoon and Han had a feud.

In March, Han publicly asked former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seok to return to Seoul. Lee was nominated as ambassador to Australia as he was investigated for abuse of power that could have interfered with the Marine Corps' internal investigation into the death of a young Marine recruit during a rescue operation in July.

He also had a private lunch with a reporter in Yoon's office. The dinner called for the firing of Hwang Sang-moo, a controversial aide to the president, who has been criticized for his freedom of speech.

Former Prosecutor General Yoon served as a prosecutor for about 20 years before entering politics by declaring his candidacy for president in June 2021. The first justice minister in the Yoon administration, Han, entered politics in December by assuming a leadership position in the People’s Party. Han stepped down after the April election loss.

Yoon delivered a congratulatory speech at the convention ahead of the results. In his speech, he stressed the need to join forces to overcome the problem of the opposition party dominating the National Assembly following its defeat in the April general election.

“The (ruling) party and the government must unite as one to address the people’s livelihood issues and make the people happy,” Yoon said before a national convention attended by about 10,000 participants. “If we unite as a team and serve the people together, the people will show us more support.”

Yoon’s office has yet to release a statement on the election results, including the results of the press conference.