1. Traces of coming through the heavy rain were evident. Raindrops were on his hair, and his shirt was wet to his chest. He said that he was wearing a raincoat and riding the Ttareungi from Dangsan Station to the National Assembly building, but the raincoat was torn. I said it was okay to wash my wet hair, touch my face, take a breather, and start talking, but I wiped away the rain with a few tissues and sat down. As expected, there was no such thing as loud and nuanced. When asking for an interview, he said that he wanted to have as much time for the interview as possible and talk with him because late nights are good and holidays are good. During the week, this man couldn't afford it. So, the scheduled time was 10 am on a Sunday.



The conversation proceeded in such a way that a short question followed by a long answer by this person. There was no case of holding his breath and arranging his thoughts to answer. It was literally a question-and-answer. It was an expression of confidence that he could answer all questions, but it also seemed like a habit he had acquired. There was no fuss in the words. The method of conveying information was practical, but the method of conveying emotions was also practical. I didn't lose sight of the other person's eyes and spoke, but those eyes didn't show emotion.

In a good way, it was cool, in other words, it felt dry.

In that respect, the tears this man showed when he met the soldiers of the Cheonan were exceptional.



2. Questions and answers about Yoon Seok-yeol continued for quite a long time. It was a question that I could not help asking this person, the leader of the first opposition party. Based on his abundant political experience in Yeouido, the logic of emphasizing the indisputability of the 3rd zone and early entry into the country was persuasive.




"If

President Yoon was in front of me right now, I would probably ask, 'What do you do with money?'

People around President Yoon will say that we should create a fund. At first glance, this is true. The structure of collecting election funds through a fund and receiving a refund from the national treasury later But if there is no single candidate, there is no way to repay the money. Also, there is no law that the single candidacy be done before the registration of the candidate, then from the first day of the election campaign, the car has to be driven around, and the publication to be delivered to all households across the country has to be printed. The cost alone is 10 billion won. Mong-joon Chung and Cheol-soo Ahn were able to compete for unification until the end because they had the financial resources to afford about 10 billion won."



The defense logic against Yun Seok-yeol was dense and solid. It was proof that Yoon Seok-yeol and the people's power eventually had no choice but to ride together, and they had no choice but to share their interests.



"President Seok-Yeol Yoon's participation in politics is to fight the arbitrariness and oppression of the Moon Jae-in government. It would be funny to say that this person has been thinking a lot about fields such as diplomacy, national defense, and security since then. Wouldn't you like to hear that he was preparing to run for the presidency?"



It was worth listening to this person who pointed out the position of Yoon Seok-yeol and his current feelings. I thought that it would be helpful to Yoon Seok-yeol if I could meet him in person and tell him this story.




“President Seok-Yeol Yoon has to have confidence that he can make political judgments better than those around him who advise him. No matter how many people around him say that he knows politics well, do you think he will become president if he does the same? From my point of view, that’s not the case. After you decide to participate in the project, you have to be confident that you can overcome the many strategists and experienced people scattered on the floor of Yeouido. I think that is the key."



He had a somewhat reserved attitude toward Choi Jae-hyung. Taking the example of Kim Hwang-sik, he said that it is not easy to make a decision to go into politics, and even if you do, it is more difficult to succeed. When he said this, he looked like a political commentator rather than the leader of the People's Power Party.



“Chairman Jae-hyung Choi has a similar experience to Prime Minister Hwang-sik Kim. As the director of the Audit and Inspection Service, as well as his storytelling and evaluation of character. Prime Minister Hwang-sik Kim exposed his weaknesses in the process of challenging himself as a politician even after successfully serving as prime minister. At the moment when Director Choi Jae-hyung decides to participate in politics, it is clear what he will lose, but I am worried that he may come without finishing due to time constraints.”




3.

"I will tell you straight-forward. I want to become the party leader."

Change started with this one line sentence.

From the end of spring to the beginning of summer, Lee Jun-seok's three names warmed the country.

In a joint speech held in Gwangju, Busan, Daegu, and Daejeon, this person showed that the time given to a candidate was 7 minutes, and that time is 7 minutes of magic that can change the world.

In Daegu, he spoke of the value of coexistence and emphasized the legitimacy of the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, in Busan the direction of the future industry, and in Daejeon, 'the harms of isolation and exclusion disguised as consideration', and preached a vision for education.

There was not a single word criticizing the competitors.

All four speeches are memorable, but the Gwangju speech is a speech worth pondering over and over again.


“Recently, the young generation is facing the obstacles of a new democracy full of hypocrisy and arrogance. The young generation, who filled the streets with candlelight, is now at the forefront of the Moon Jae-in government, who has rejected their wishes. (…) I believe that the Moon Jae-in government is an upright democracy We should always put democracy and human rights as absolute values. Closing our eyes when democracy and human rights are in crisis is to turn the absolute values ​​into something that can be compromised with others. It's a story about falling."


Democracy and human rights have long been the preserve of progressive forces. When these words came out, the conservatives were stunned and at a loss for words. The fact that he was a descendant of the military dictatorship, and the sense of original sin that trampled on 'Gwangju' with a single shot, never disappeared. However, this person took issue with the current government's attitude toward the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement and 'admonished' that the Moon Jae-in administration was undermining the absolute values ​​of democracy and human rights, and defined the current government as 'an obstacle to democracy'. In Gwangju, the 'heart of Korean democracy'. It's hard to understand why people don't pay attention to this startling and startling remark. The first opposition party was a party of people who called the 5/18 a riot, denounced the 5/18 meritorious people as a group of monsters that extort taxes, and was hesitant to expel those who made such remarks from the party. Lee Jun-seok's appearance is a decisive declaration of breakup with the political party, and at the same time, a declaration that conservatives no longer feel complex with progressives when talking about democracy and human rights.




Speaking of the joint speech performance in baseball, it was 4 hits in 4 at-bats.

Busan had a hit, Daejeon had a double, Daegu had a triple, and Gwangju's speech was a home run.

One might say that the Daegu speech, which emphasized the confidence of conservatives, was the biggest hit, and some would say that the Daejeon speech, which explained the reason for running politics in connection with education, was the best. Anyway, in all four at-bats, he produced a drama-like scene. The bat went out boldly in the first pitch, and even if the count was advantageous, he actively swung the bat if the ball was good. He used a strong attack on the no-out base. When other people asked to wait for a look, this person didn't listen. Despite concerns that a double play could turn the mood of the game in an instant, this man showed the courage to take one step forward from the cliff. He was a seasoned manager and player who had the entire field in sight, including the stands. Most of all, he knows what the audience will be excited about.



4. Does this person have any memories of failure and defeat? It may be a failure that they did not get first place because they said that they finished second in middle school when there were 720 students in the entire school. He may have felt frustrated at the fact that his grades at Seoul Science High School were around 40 and at Harvard University, who were smarter than him and spoke English well, but anyway, he had the best academic education in Korea by himself.




After setting foot in Yeouido as a member of the Grand National Party in 2011, he ran for the National Assembly 3 times in 10 years and went through the presidential election twice, leaving the party, the Bundang, and the merged party. In 2016, Lee Jeong-hyeon, the leader of the Saenuri Party, demanded the resignation and fought a hunger strike for more than ten days. He lived in Yeouido's political circle for 10 years without wearing a member's badge. It is difficult for people who are not members of the National Assembly to be treated properly in Yeouido, whether they are broadcasting, in charge of the party, or whatever they do. I spent 10 years like that.



Harvard's campus wasn't the only thing that raised this man.

The broadcaster's live broadcast site was both a workplace and a training ground for this person, as well as a battlefield.

In many cases, he appeared on more than 20 broadcast programs a week, and was appearing on 16 programs right before running for party representative.



"The full-length panelists train themselves by asking for minute-by-minute ratings data. That's why, to keep talking so that the channel doesn't rotate is the same ability as the ability to get many people to pay attention to me while doing politics. It’s important to have a conversational style that allows you to focus your attention without being over-the-top.”



For the past 5 years, I have paid 2-3 million won a year as a global income tax. This means that the income from broadcasting appearances is over 100 million won per year. The evaluation of this person in the broadcaster was that he was a person who would do his part no matter where he was called at any time. After the Moon Jae-in administration took office, he was a representative conservative commentator who delivered the conservative position logically and persuasively.



For this person, the past decade has been a time of setbacks and failures.

The person who selected him into the political world, the president he had struggled to win, was ousted from power in the most humble and disgraceful manner, and the party with which he shared philosophy and values ​​handed over power to the progressive party.

In the 2016 general election, the 2018 re-election, and the 2020 general election, he ran for the Seoul National Assembly member Noh Won-byeong once every two years, and failed each time.

In the Gangbuk area, it was said that the vote rate was high, but it was a report card that was not enough to get the right to be elected.



In last year's general election, he was defeated even after receiving more than 46,000 votes, the highest ever for a conservative party candidate.

In the exit poll of the three broadcasting companies, the gap with the first place was only 2.7 percentage points, so expectations for the election must have been greater than ever.

As much as I had high expectations, I must have been disappointed as well, but I calmly left my feelings of failure on Facebook.

After reading this article, I am not the only one who felt that Jun-seok Lee's skill was not formidable.



"Jyeoteumyeon think of repair younger jotgetdaneun think,


left, jongbuk confident that communism can win without such word was traditionally conservative use


look to the definition goes beyond the economy, security, fairness, more diverse worries, such as gender issues,


the future Sanggye-dong I will do my best to make sure that conservative parties change into such a shape not only in Japan but everywhere.”


Due to differences of opinion over the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, the party continued to leave and split, and the split led to the continued defeat of the conservative party in national elections. The fact that this person's party membership changed to the Saenuri Party, the Bareun Party, the Bareun Mirae Party, the New Conservative Party, the Future United Party, and the People's Power means that the movement of the faction to which this person belongs was that complicated.



He was a man who never lost much in competition and was full of pride for the group he belonged to. The person who did that lost the election in a row, and his side was in a situation where he lost one defeat. The freshness of the early days of entering the political realm had disappeared, and the image of a young politician who spoke well, but was not a bit cheap, was left, and time was passing helplessly. Although it raised awareness through broadcasting, it was not a time of accumulation. There is no doubt that he is good at broadcasting, but that doesn't mean he had a unique status like Jin Joong-kwon or Yoo Si-min that he had to be this person.




"I make a lot of money when I broadcast, but it's not a regular job. When I go on a variety show, the unit price is high, but there was a point where I felt embarrassed. Because I don't feel like I'm constantly accumulating things. I run my own company, As a scholar, I feel like I am accumulating when I do research, but broadcasting didn’t feel that way. Regardless of how much money I saved, I couldn’t feel how much my abilities were accumulating, so I worried a lot.”



He shared philosophy and values ​​with Yoo Seung-min for a long time, and he learned political skills from Kim Jong-in, who he had been with since the days of the non-captain of the Grand National Party in 2011. He said that the person he respected was also Kim Jong-in. Kim Jong-in is a person who gives the image of a rather mean-spirited old-timer, but this person said that once you experience it, you can know the true value of Kim Jong-in. He gets along comfortably with the Bareun Party comrades such as Jeong Byeong-guk, Oh Oh-hwan, and Ha Tae-kyung, and since last year, he has been living with Kim Woong, the power of the people, and a good friend. If you look at the people you are close with, it seems that the reputation of being a reformist and a reasonable conservative is not too wrong.



During the difficult 10 years, I did not give up my principles, did not bow down, and did not lower my goals. The result was an image of a young politician who was too confident and ambitious. The reason he did not leave Yeouido, where he did not accept himself and where the field for his will was not opened, was probably because of his pride that he would be a loser if he left without accomplishing anything. Looking back, such a time was spent on this person's mouth, but it was a medicine. I didn't have the ability to take the initiative in creating the situation.

When the opportunity came, I did not miss it and seized it quickly.

If it hadn't been for 10 years of training, I wouldn't have known that the opportunity had come.



5. Don't brag about yourself with your mouth. Make the listener unable to move on to the next question without first speaking this person's ball. It's very clever at times like this, but the story of 'people sharing learning' is such an example. When he was serving in the military as an industrial technical agent, he created 'People who share learning' by gathering students from difficult circumstances and teaching mathematics and science. At first, it started with alumni of Seoul Science High School, but as word spread that people from Seoul National University, KAIST, and Harvard teach without paying, it has developed into a large group of over 500 teachers.




-You set out to help students in difficult circumstances. Have you been interested in people in difficult circumstances before that?


"I don't think I started that activity with good intentions. I couldn't do commercial activities while I was in the military service, so I just wanted to spend my spare time doing what I was good at."



He said that he was only doing volunteer work that he could do well and that he could do comfortably without affecting his work. But what followed was interesting.



"I've never taken tutoring in my life. Because if you say you went to Harvard at Seoul Science High School, the price of tutoring is the highest in Korea. I have friends who get 1 million won and 2 million won per hour."



-Why didn't you teach?


"I hate being paid to teach people knowledge. I don't know if I was a professional teacher, but if I got money, I'd be highly valued, but I never did it because I thought it would be strange to talk about social reform while doing private tutoring like that. ."




After being selected as a national gifted student, he received a scholarship certificate from President Roh Moo-hyun and received more than 200 million won in support for studying abroad.

I had the thought that I had to pay back what I had received from the country.

Not only did I help underprivileged children through what I could do best, but I used it as an experiment to remove the inefficiency and injustice of social service groups.



“We have reached a scale of 500 teachers alone. At this level, we need to have 10 staff in the secretariat. With 10 employees, no matter how low the salary is, we have to pay hundreds of millions of won a year in total. What the secretariat does is It's like taking out the confirmation of volunteer work, making publicity materials and making timetables. We made a program that does all of that automatically, so it's highly efficient and there's no room for corruption. When CEO Park Geun-hye visited our group, I spent two hours That's what I explained. My mouth fell open when I saw it. That's why they hired me."




The keyword to understand this person is 'education'.

Another field in which this person can speak with confidence is 'education'.

When he talked about education, he pounded the desk with his fist, raising the heat.

It is unknown what the end of this person will be, but the beginning of this person is 'education'.

The Daejeon speech, which talked about the vision for education, summarizes the conservative educational philosophy in an easy-to-understand manner.


“We need to know that isolation and exclusion under the guise of consideration is frightening. It is hypocrisy to be sympathetic by lowering expectations for students. It is difficult for students who fall behind in school to get back on track, the education currently facing low-income students. is a reality, and we have to bring them up so they can compete again." 2021. 6. 4. Daejeon Joint Speech


He advocated a responsible education system that ensures that students have a certain level of ability until they graduate from high school. It is difficult for the progressive education camp to agree with the position that students who have not reached a certain level of proficiency can use somewhat compulsory methods such as night classes. We asked Jo Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Education in Seoul, for opinions on Lee Jun-seok's insistence on responsible education system. Jo Hee-yeon acknowledged the need to verify a certain degree of academic background, but took a cautious stance, saying that measures such as the revival of the Japanese colonial test for this could lead to the ranking of schools. However, he did not dismiss Lee Jun-seok's claim that it was not worth thinking about. In response to Jo Hee-yeon's reaction, Lee Jun-seok said that the responsible education system does not promote school ranking, but prefers students who have overcome competition.



6.

I used

the word

'confidence'

frequently in

conversation

. We need people who think about the future of the community ahead of others, and I think they need to be treated as elites. And I pride myself on being such an elite.



“When I said I would become the party leader,

I could do

this only if I had the

confidence to at least

be

able to judge better than others

. So I think that confidence is tied to elitism.”




Where other people would use the word 'thought', they use the word 'self' or 'confidence'. It's this man's unique way of speaking. For example, at the Daegu joint campaign, "Are you confident that you can coexist with people who think differently from you?" Do other people have a 'thought' or 'will' to coexist? would have said



He chose President Obama, who was also a senior at Harvard University, as a person he admired, and he memorized Obama's speeches. The Daegu speech is clearly a homage to Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The words elite, self-confidence, and competition probably don't seem to have anything to do with studying at Harvard.



“I learned a lot just by listening there. I had a lot of great friends who were really good at speaking. I had a lot of opportunities to meet great speakers. When I see people who make money and contribute to society, I want to make a lot of money, and I want to make a lot of money with words. When I see people who resonate with people and change the world, I want to imitate them.”



This person is compared to his Harvard friends. There must have been many times when his situation seemed shabby compared to his friends who were running on the road to success.



- Have you ever struggled with money?


“I worked very hard to make money rather than to struggle with money, because I always think about opportunity cost when I do something. "It's a pity that I have a sense of competition with my Harvard friends. Some of them consult and go to law school to make a lot of money. I'm a human too, so I don't have a sense of competition. So I put a lot of effort into making money."



stingy in recognition of authority.

Rather than authority, it is seen that skill is sufficient.

I also learned at Harvard that authority does not come from age or position, but from ability. I do not listen well to others, especially those who cite experience and experience. He doesn't pretend to listen, let alone respect. That's why I hear people say that there are cheap things. I am well aware of hearing those words.




"I don't know how many times I've talked about nonsense, but when everyone else says, 'It's like this when we look at it,' isn't that saying, 'I don't think it's like that'? The reason I don't say 'That's right' is because I believe I can make better political judgments than them. Without that confidence, how could I have come to the party leader?



We have appeared together on TV a few times. It was impressive that he didn't hide his expression as if he didn't need to hear those words if he said something like that. He was someone I didn't want to turn into an enemy. Neither age nor status mattered to this person. Even in the waiting room, a single word of "Hello" was enough. I didn't even say a quarter or two that I've seen your face once or twice. You might say that this look is cheeky and not cheap, but personally, it looked cool.




is a fighter

During the debate between the candidates, he did not yield a word to Na Kyung-won. He has the image of a schoolboy, but when he gets into the ring, he is rough. Although he was a private person, he did not hesitate to swear at Ahn Cheol-soo, who was far superior in age and career. A little bit of bad luck and arrogance seem to be the points that appeal to young people.



“When you say you want to become a professional baseball player, what kind of baseball is this if your senior has a rule that juniors cannot throw a change ball? I don't mind."



7. It was the conservatives who reached out first to this person, who stood halfway between the liberals and the conservatives. And that choice turned out to be lucky for the conservatives.

This person also thought that youth conservative politics was a blue ocean with inexhaustible veins once opened.

It was this person who sharply sensed with the touch of a young man that the statute of limitations of the concepts of industrialization and democratization had expired.



You said early on that you should pay attention to young people in their 20s. How did you come to say that?

“I felt that the glory of industrialization and democratization was running out. Whether you live in Honam or Yeongnam in your twenties, you will not shoot anyone because of the glory of industrialization. Also, you will not shoot anyone because of democratization. Past ideological conflicts or economic class There was an advanced-level evolution in which people had to start paying attention to conflicts other than conflicts. I thought that only people in their 20s could accept this.”


He advocated for the abolition of the quota system for women and drew a favorable response from men in their 20s.

In a book published in 2012, an objection was raised as to whether it was inconsistent with the statement that the ratio of male and female candidates for proportional representation should be changed to 3:7 or 2:8 instead of 5:5 in order to activate women's political participation. There was also a lot of criticism about whether it would separate men and women for the sake of it.

This person said that the point of his argument is that we should judge by ability, not gender, and there is no need to assign women first.




The first opposition party led by this person looks completely different from the days of Park Geun-hye, Hong Jun-pyo, and Hwang Kyo-ahn. I wonder if there has ever been a time in the history of a Korean political party that a change of one person has drawn so many political implications. He said he would create a party where values ​​and philosophy take precedence, not organization or faction.



“At this time, the young me became the representative, and three of the four top members were women who were not familiar with organized elections or makgeolli election culture. Until now, female politicians and young people had no choice but to go to the minor leagues because of the rules of the game. It was weird.”



-Isn't the result of this national convention an exception that came out of the emergency situation called Corona? If the power of the people wins the presidential election next year and the corona virus is overcome, won't it go back to the past?


"Making it irreversible is the doubling of the party members. People who join the party with sympathy for this new way will not gather even if someone tries to buy them makgeolli, and they will be bothered by organized elections."



He said he made money enough to hold several elections by investing in coins, but he did not disclose specific profits. He said that he did not know what kind of coin he had because he made a program and invested automatically. After becoming the party leader, he is careful about commenting because there is a possibility of a conflict of interest, but the coin investment story gives the image that this person is not much different from ordinary young people who cannot accumulate wealth through other means. He is definitely interested in money.

I want to be in the top 1% by wealth rather than by my head.

Even if what he said was a political investigation that came out during the battle with Kim Eun-hye, it is clear that wanting to make a lot of money is not a joke.



Now, he said that his next political goal is to become president, but on the other hand, he also wants to succeed as a programmer, his original major, before he gets older, and he also wants to start a big company. Watching the company talk, I wondered if money was a major measure of success for this person.



8. As the party representative, the start is smooth. In one opinion poll, 64.8% of respondents evaluated the Lee Jun-seok system positively. Among male respondents, 71.9% gave a positive evaluation, while 57.9% of female respondents gave a positive evaluation, but anyway, more than half. The debate battle for the selection of spokespersons attracted more than expected interest. The evaluation within the party, including multi-elected lawmakers, is not bad either. After becoming the CEO, he knows well what to be on guard against and what to improve. There is no way of knowing that most of the shortcomings of oneself can be solved by bowing your head more deeply when meeting other people.



In 2012, I proposed not to run the Saenuri Party candidate in the late Kim Geun-tae constituency. That is how he expressed his respect for Kim Geun-tae, who died as a result of torture. It is a passage that smells of people, but it was also a word that could be said because it was before the harsh reality of politics. He said he wouldn't be able to make such an offer now.



In 2019, when I was a member of the Bareunmirae Party, I worked for a taxi company for about two months and drove 12 hours a day.

It was to listen to the stories of average people in Korea.

From the 11th of next month, I plan to take a five-day vacation to receive training on transfer and acquisition of personal taxis in Sangju, Gyeongbuk.

He said he was actually thinking of buying a private taxi.

It is said that this person's dream is not limited to being the leader of the party.




"Now the way for me to hear the stories of average people in Korea is blocked. Now, even when I go to a country restaurant, recognize me and add an egg to me. I want to create an opportunity to talk to ordinary people even while taking a taxi. ."



I thought it would be like seeing a smart student council president, but after talking for more than three hours, he is a seasoned politician who has gone through everything before and after childbirth.

The past 10 years have also been spent arguing with the opposing faction panel on the air.

It wasn't that I was completely immersed in building my skills.

He said that it takes three days to speak Chinese the way it used to, and it takes one day to go to the local area to speak English as much as before.

At the time when I was competing with the world's best talent, I would have thought I was world-class, but even now, 10 years after I was locked up in Yeouido, I still have my eyes open and my heart to embrace the world is wide enough.

These people are compared to their Harvard classmates, and if they only want to earn as much money and rise to a high position, then Harvard, and not Harvard, is only rude and ridiculous.



It was an opportunity to realize once again that it is not easy to talk with someone who does not have much experience to share. To be honest, I didn't find the conversation with this person interesting. There weren't many laughs. The answers to the pending issues were within the expected range and little was known about this person from a human point of view. It's hard to say that it was an in-depth conversation. It was a fun time though. Either way, it doesn't look like this person will end up being a surprise star. If so, the path this person opened will occupy a large part of Korean politics, and it was a time to broaden our understanding of such a person.



*This interview was conducted in a two-to-one format with Man-Hee Yang, editor-in-chief, at the Representative Office of the People's Power Party in the National Assembly on July 4th.



**The full video of the interview with <That Person> will be released for the first time on the SBS News YouTube channel at 8:20 pm today (10th).