Main opposition party selects 20-something co-spokespeople

Published : Jul 5, 2021 - 21:07 Updated : Jul 5, 2021 - 21:07

Candidates for People Power Party's spokespeople position Lim Seung-ho (second from left) and Yang Jun-woo (first from left) pose for a photo with party leader Lee Jun-seok (fourth from left) after an open audition Monday. (Yonhap)

With a 36-year-old leader in charge, the main opposition People Power Party selected a pair of 27-year-olds as its new co-spokespeople.

The party will continue to serve the youth, with Lim Seung-ho and Yang Jun-woo having finished first and second in the final round of the open audition for the PPP spokespeople positions.

Lim is a former deputy youth spokesman for the central-right Bareun Party. Yang was previously unemployed and, in his own words, "was playing video games at home and taking out trash until a few days ago."

The debate contest, televised live on the cable channel TV Chosun and the party's YouTube channel, was the brainchild of PPP's Harvard-educated chairman, Lee Jun-seok. PPP said 120,000 viewers took part in realtime voting via text messages.

"It's up to us spokespeople how Chairman Lee Jun-seok's political experiments are evaluated," Lim said after winning the contest.

Kim Yeon-joo, a 55-year-old former TV announcer, and Shin In-kyu, a 35-year-old attorney, placed third and fourth. They will be deputy spokespeople over the next six months.

Over the next two days, they will undergo two days of training on finer points of representing their party. It will include a lecture by former PPP spokesperson Kim Eun-hye on the role of a party spokesperson and on communication with the media. (Yonhap)