Wind of change Rookie politicians shine in opposition leadership race A strong "wind of general change" is blowing through the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) as its younger members are challenging the old guard in the conservative party's leadership race. Most notably, Lee Jun-seok, 36, is continuing to steal the limelight, emerging as the most favored candidate in recent opinion polls. He is ahead of senior party members such as five-term Rep. Joo Ho-young, a former PPP floor leader; and Na Kyung-won, a former floor leader of the PPP's predecessor, the Liberty Party of Korea. Other rookie members running for the party chairperson are freshman lawmakers Kim Woong, 42, and Kim Eun-hye, 41, who are also faring well. The leap taken by the novice politicians into the leadership race, is signaling a tectonic change in the political landscape in Korea. The PPP and other minor parties as well as the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) must be feeling a sense of crisis that if they cannot change themselves, they cannot survive.