Kim Chong-in (Kim Jong-in), chief of the People Power Party election campaign spoke on the number one task of Yoon Seok-youl’s election campaign. He explained, “While COVID-19 raged for two years, polarization has become more severe,” and said, “If we ignore the situation, it could lead to an incident that cannot be socially tolerated. The situation is very urgent, and the next president must work to resolve this issue first thing before all else.” On December 6, Kim sat for an interview on the CBS radio show, Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show and said, “I think how to revive the people who have been economically devastated by COVID-19 will have to be our number one campaign promise.”

As for his decision to join Yoon’s election campaign on December 3, Kim said that Kim Jae-won, a member of the party’s Supreme Council, and his wife Kim Mi-gyeong persistently persuaded him, and that Kim Jae-won was with him in his home when he agreed to lead the campaign. According to Kim Chong-in, Kim Jae-won even searched the party’s constitution and showed him that it stipulated that the chief of the party’s election campaign had full power in order to persuade him. When Kim Chong-in told Kim Jae-won that he would decide the next morning (Dec. 4), Kim Jae-won said, “I think it will have a very good effect if you call and accept now.” Kim Chong-in explained that that was how he came to call and speak with the party’s leader Lee Jun-seok and presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl, who were in Ulsan at the time. Kim Chong-in made it clear that Lee’s secret visits had nothing to do with his joining the election campaign. He said, “I thought that Yoon going to Ulsan to meet Lee was a sign that the problem would be resolved, and coincidently, everything was decided all at once on that day.”

Kim said that he considered not joining the campaign even up until the last moment. However, he said, “The initial mood seemed to disappear since nearly a month had passed (since the candidate was elected), and I also discovered signs suggesting that public opinion could flow toward a significantly different direction.” “The people around me pressed me asking what would happen if we failed to put a new government in office,” Kim continued and said, “It wasn’t because I was afraid of that pressure. At this point, there are so many things that the Republic of Korea must do, and I thought that if we could properly highlight these, then we could head in that direction. So I reconsidered.” As for the heated debate over Yoon’s so-called “key aides,” Kim Chong-in said, “I don’t know who that refers to, but I believe it is true that there were some people who didn’t want me to join.”