Following two weeks of consecutive meetings with five non-Lee Jae-myung (non-pro-Lee) figures—Kim Kyung-soo, Park Yong-jin, Kim Boo-kyum, Lim Jong-seok, and Kim Dong-yeon—Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, concluded his efforts to garner internal party unity. Despite the shared demand for constitutional reform, Lee maintained that “overcoming civil unrest is the priority,” indicating a clear divergence in views on this matter.
During this period, Lee successfully elicited a consensus on party unity with these non-pro-Lee figures, a significant achievement given his commitment to this cause in anticipation of an early presidential election. Even though he had narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election by 0.73 percentage points to Yoon Seok-yeol—marking the smallest margin since the direct presidential election system was established in 1987—the failure to unite with Shim Sang-jung of the Justice Party, who secured 2.37% of the vote, is still a topic of discussion among opposition figures.
Lee’s pursuit of unity is driven not only by past election experiences but also by the need to regain support from the moderate center, which has remained stagnant since a state of emergency was declared. Despite skepticism from some political and public quarters about his sincerity in shifting politically rightward, his unification efforts appear to be proceeding smoothly. The lack of alternatives to Lee within the party and the persistent nightmare of having lost power after five years have contributed to bringing both sides together.
Nonetheless, the differing positions on constitutional reform pose a challenge for Lee. While Kim Kyung-soo, Park Yong-jin, Kim Boo-kyum, Lim Jong-seok, and Kim Dong-yeon all urged Lee to adopt a progressive stance on constitutional changes, he repeatedly emphasized that addressing civil unrest takes precedence. However, it is likely that constitutional discussions will be difficult to ignore, especially as former parliament speakers, prime ministers, party leaders, and members from the People Power Party call for resolution on the issue. Moreover, with President Yoon’s impeachment trial mentioning constitutional reform, Lee, who pledged a “four-year presidential term with one re-election” during the previous election, is expected to clarify his position following the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the impeachment, anticipated in mid-March. Nonetheless, whether Lee will actively pursue constitutional reform post-ruling remains uncertain. A representative from Lee’s side stated, “Once the impeachment motion against President Yoon is upheld, discussions about constitutional reform will naturally arise during the election process,” while also questioning the level of public enthusiasm for such reform.