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Reform Party Leader Lee Jun-seok bows after concluding a press conference to announce his resignation as party leader at the National Assembly's Press Center on the 26th. / Reporter Lee Byung-hwa

Reform Party Leader Lee Jun-seok resigned from his post as party leader on the 26th. This comes 13 months after he took the helm in July of last year following the defeat in the June 3 presidential election.

Holding a press conference at the National Assembly's Press Center on the day, Lee stepped down as party leader, stating, "For just over three months since the June 3 local elections, I have contemplated and put forward proposals for the party's self-reliance and reform, but failed to garner sufficient support within the party."

Lee said, "It is no one's fault. The responsibility for failing to persuade lies entirely with me as the leader," adding, "We face a political calendar ahead that cannot be delayed, and the clock in politics waits for no one. I judged that we could not face that schedule without reaching a consensus on our direction."

Lee continued, "If I was rather standing in the way of what party members wanted to achieve, I believed that vacating the post was the path I should take for the party," adding, "As an individual party member and as a lawmaker representing Dongtan 2 New Town, I will do my part in my position."

After concluding the press conference, Lee left the Press Center without taking questions from reporters.

Behind Lee's resignation reportedly lie internal disagreements surrounding party reform discussions following a crushing defeat in the local elections. In the local elections, the Reform Party only managed to elect a single member to the Hwaseong City Council in Gyeonggi Province, failing to secure any seats in races for heads of metropolitan or basic local governments. On top of this, controversy over allegations of a staged terror attack involving former Busan mayoral candidate Jeong I-han added further strain, fueling assessments that the party's political standing had narrowed.

Afterward, Lee proposed a party reform package that included concentrating candidate nominations in the southern Gyeonggi region for the 2028 general elections, but differences within the party were reportedly encountered.

Along with Lee, the party leadership—including supreme council members and the policy committee chair—also resigned en masse to take responsibility for the local election defeat. Floor Leader Chun Ha-ram will serve as acting party leader to prepare for a national convention to elect the next leadership.

                                                                                                         Kim Dong-wook