Interview with Park Hye-min, head of young politician development organization New Ways
By Park Ju-yeon
Published Jan. 30, 2026
Translated by Marilyn Hook
Have you ever heard the word jeolmchiin?
A combination of jeolmeun [young] and jeongchiin [politician],
the phrase was coined and is used by New Ways (newways.kr), a non-profit
organization operating under the motto, "We develop the politicians we
want to elect." New Ways is dedicated to creating a political system where
jeolmchiin up to age 39 can focus on solving problems.
Park Hye-min, head of New Ways. (Photo credit: Park
Hye-min)
These days, with controversies involving
corruption around nominations, suspicions of fraud, and abuse of power among
politicians like National Assembly members and ministerial candidates, it's
difficult to imagine a vision for Korean politics. The idea of transforming
the political ecosystem with young politicians is bound to be met with
skepticism. The illusion that simply having young politicians would be good has
already been shattered over the past few years. However, I still believe that
Korean politics being dominated by middle-aged and older men is a serious
problem that must be addressed.
What kind of politics does New Ways envision?
How does it view June’s nationwide simultaneous local elections, which will see
countless politicians emerge? What preparations are they making? I met with New
Ways director Park Hye-min at the organization’s headquarters in a shared
office in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, to discuss the matter. One thing became clear
from the interview: as long as there are people who strive to change politics,
we can dream about the future of politics.
Can society’s problems be solved through better systems?
Ms. Park isn’t someone who has always had a
strong interest in politics, nor was she active in the political arena before.
She was an office worker who had built her business career working in startups,
investment firms, and the strategic planning department of an airline. However,
she was "someone with a keen interest in solving social problems through
systems."
"I fundamentally believed that social
problems needed to be solved through systems, so I enjoyed finding and imagining
those solutions. I did this even while working. It was like a lifelong
question. Even in high school and college, I constantly asked myself, 'How can
we create a system where people can work together to solve problems?'"
While working at her third company, Ms. Park
decided she wanted to "focus on solving one problem for a while," so
she quit. During this break, she naturally began watching political news more frequently,
and it was then that she heard about two incidents that shocked her.
"It was the Nth Room case and the sexual
harassment allegations against former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon. To me, these
were obviously political issues and felt like crises, but others were less
interested than I expected. I felt like they didn't even understand the nature
of the problems. I saw it as a question of who would make the decisions. I also
thought, 'I'm tired of going to protests and rallies every time and making demands.
We need to take the power from them.' I thought we need to change the
decision-makers in politics."
A screenshot from New Ways’s website. The yellow
box reads: “We develop the politicians we want to elect. In order to make a
society worth living in for people in their 20s and 30s, the young politician
organization New Ways works with voters to make a political ecosystem in which
young politicians can focus on solving problems.” The gray box reads: “We
develop young politicians. We discover and cultivate new political leadership
that can go beyond the limitations of established politics. We create a platform
where diverse talented people, committed to solving social problems, can
collaborate and grow together, transcending party affiliation. We operate the
New Ways Boot Camp where participants learn the skills and attitude to help
them built a support base while solving problems, as well as a community for
boot camp alumni.”
Ms. Park began to delve deeper into the world of
politics. Having experience in a startup, she used that as a reference for
comparison while observing the political landscape, and began to question what
she saw. "In the startup world, a leader’s decision-making and training
are crucial, but in politics, there's no system for evaluating or giving training
on leadership," she explained. Above all, she realized she wanted to see
politicians who spoke her language—because if you want someone to understand your
life and change it for the better, that person needs to see the world similarly.
"For that to happen, shouldn't this person be around my age?" she
thought.
"In 2018, only 7% of candidates for the
National Assembly and only 6% of those elected were under the age of 39. I
realized, 'It's hard to get elected, but it's also really difficult to become a
candidate.' I looked into it and found that Korean political parties lack a
talent development system, and that the recent, highly publicized issue of
nominations was a major obstacle. I decided I needed to start making changes,
to experiment."
When people think about changing politics, they
usually think of "entering enemy territory"—going inside and directly
creating change. But Park Hye-min took a different approach.
"You know the limits of partisanship. For
example, on the issue of sexual violence, it feels like the Democratic Party,
the People Power Party, and the Justice Party are all pretty similar. I thought
we needed a new common sense that transcended partisanship and political
identity. I also felt the existing framework was becoming tedious. 'Shouldn't
we focus a little more on building a different ecosystem?'"
Ms. Park and Kwak Min-hae, a current New Ways executive,
met in an online community for women working in startups and decided to
dedicate the last years of their twenties to "creating a system that would
allow talented individuals to break into politics and thrive there."
That's how New Ways was born.
New Ways’s book, We’re Developing Jeolmchiin,
published by Wisdom House in 2024.
New Ways defines it target group as people aged
39 and younger, and aims to bring about change through these young people. But
isn't "youth" not a universal truth? Is New Ways's "jeolmchiin"
different from the "youth politics" that have been talked about
before? Park Hye-min stated, "First of all, I prefer not to use the term
'youth politics.'"
“The ‘youth politics’ framework creates an
atmosphere where young politicians feel compelled to only discuss youth-related
policies. And it limits their activities to a separate arena called youth
politics—rather than positions of real power like party leader or supreme
council member, they become a ‘youth party leader’ or ‘youth supreme council
member.’ It's also used to strictly demand high moral standards and originality
from young politicians, things that are not demanded of older politicians
(those in their 50s and 60s).”
Ms. Park added, "When I listen to
people talk about 'what is youth [cheongnyeon] politics?', I often find
that they're asking for just good politics, and it has nothing to do with
age." In that sense, the "young [jeolmeun] politics" New
Ways pursues is not simply a matter of a politician’s biological age, but
rather of their perspective.
"Most people in their 20s and 30s today
don't really feel like they have a clear future ahead of them. I believe that
those who view the world with the perspective and priorities of this generation
and possess the capacity to solve problems based on specific regions and
agendas are jeolmchiin [regardless of their age]. Still, the reason New
Ways has an age limit is because we believe there are such things as contemporaneity
[dongsidaeseong] and generationalness [sedaeseong], and that we
have learned certain things from our experiences of them.”
“If ‘youth politics’ is a narrow pen created by
the older generation, then ‘young politics’ refers to capable contenders who
jump its fences, determine agendas for the future, and create real change,” she
explained, and the vision of what New Ways is pursuing began to emerge.
New Ways is making a variety of efforts to
foster the development of its ‘young politicians.’ Recognizing the absence of a
talent development system within Korean party politics and the aging party
membership that make it extremely difficult for young politicians to enter or
advance, New Ways seeks to go beyond simply discovering young politicians. They
see themselves as "ecosystem builders" who help young politicians
achieve real-world success and growth, and they also operate practical training
programs.
"To encourage nonpartisanism, we group
together prospective politicians from different parties—the Democratic Party,
the People Power Party, and progressive parties—and provide training. By
fostering camaraderie and friendship that transcends partisanship, we create a
culture that fosters rational debate and cooperation in the National Assembly.
One of the participants, a woman in her 30s and a Democratic Party supporter,
told me, 'I had so much fun today.' I asked, 'Why?' and she replied, 'It was my
first time talking to a man who supports the People Power Party. But it was
fun.' I've even seen cases where people from different parties continue to meet
up and work together. While it may seem like they’re very different, when among
established politicians these individuals share a minority identity [of being
young], which is why they have common ground. Furthermore, they all aspire to
be politicians, are prepared to talk over different ideas, and understand the
importance of meeting peers their age. This is what makes for such effective discussions."
These training programs also function as
positive peer pressure for participants. They encourage them to think,
"Oh, that person’s doing this or that? I should work hard too." The
programs also get participants to identify problems they want to solve and
think more deeply about how to solve them and how to win elections. This is how
young politicians grow.
The “2026 Local Elections” section of New Ways’s
website lets visitors search for twenty- and thirtysomething young politicians
in their own districts. (Screenshot: https://newways.kr; translation by article
translator)
It's crucial for New Ways to increase the
percentage of young people actually elected and ultimately change the
composition of legislative bodies. New Ways is already in the middle of
conducting experiments for the upcoming nationwide simultaneous local
elections. The goal is not to elect one or two young people, but to secure an
‘effective percentage’ of candidates who can have a real voice in legislative
bodies. New Ways' goal is to achieve at least 20% young politicians among provincial
councils, and at least 30% among capital-area councils. Currently, the figure
stands at around 10%.
Ms. Park: “We plan to focus our support on the
six strategic districs in Seoul: Seodaemun, Nowon, Dongdaemun, Gangdong,
Gangnam, and Mapo. These areas are home to New Ways’s incumbent lawmakers and
new candidates. With the goal of reforming the composition of the legislature
from these areas, we're continuing to connect politicians with voters there.
We've already gathered voters and held briefing sessions for incumbent
lawmakers in December of last year and January of this year. In February and
March, we'll also hold events where voters can raise issues and politicians can
share their opinions. Instead of politicians appearing only during elections
and promising, ‘I pledge to do this or that,’ voters will be able to offer
counterproposals, to say, ‘This other thing is important. How could you address
it?’
New Ways uses the [transliterated English] term
"casting manager" instead of "voter." This is what "We
develop the politicians we want to elect" means. Casting managers don't
just vote during elections; they support politicians and communicate their
demands. They don't just wait for change, they participate in creating it. Ms.
Park, emphasized, "Voters shouldn’t be satisfied with their passive role
of just marking a ballot at the polling station. They should be actively
involved in the candidate selection process and actively demanding what they
need from politicians on a daily basis."
Where should voters start? Ms. Park says, “To be
honest, young people like me primarily express their opinions on social media, but
the real pressure on politicians comes from direct contact. You need to call or
text your local representative or the relevant standing committee member's
office directly to provide feedback. Those who oppose (a certain ordinance or
bill) may actively call to protest, but if those in favor or support remain
silent, politicians may mistakenly believe public opinion is negative. So, even
if it's inconvenient, I urge you to take action."
In New Ways’s “Policy Copy-and-Paste!” section, you can send a request for different ordinances to your local politicians. (Screenshot: https://newways.kr; translation by article translator)
Another option is to utilize the "Policy
Copy-and-Paste" service New Ways has created. Policies currently available
include the "Jeonse Fraud Harm Prevention and Victim Support
Ordinance," the "Relational Crimes [crimes occurring within
trust-based relationships such as those between family members or intimate
partners] Prevention and Victim
Protection and Support Ordinance," and the "Support Ordinance for
Creating Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises People Want to Work For."
Using "Policy Copy-and-Paste," you can easily submit these policies
to your local council members and request their adoption.
Ms. Park added, "Becoming a 'casting
manager' for New Ways and participating in various activities, subscribing to
and supporting the New Ways newsletter and YouTube channel, supporting young
politicians you admire or joining political parties—it’s all important."
She continued, "Many people who participate in New Ways activities say,
'Politics is more fun than I thought.' I think we need to continue to build on
those experiences." She also emphasized that if you're affiliated with a
political party in this local election, "don't forget to actively
participate during the primary period where the candidates are decided—vote so
that the good candidates you want advance to the general election."
Concluding the interview, New Ways’s head said,
"I hope many young politicians can experience winning, but in a way that
suits them, and with a compelling story and vision. […] Not like, 'I won even
though it was ugly and I had to play dirty,' but by winning with a beautiful
and wonderful story. I don't think that happens very often. I want to win like
that."
Original Article : https://ildaro.com/10377
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