A sense of crisis over survival arises within ruling party

“Putting a new leader in place and getting rid of him once again would mean a total failure at the general elections, as if building a sandcastle and tearing it down,” said a member of the People Power Party in the Seoul metropolitan area.

On Monday, when it was reported that the presidential office requested the resignation of Han Dong-hoon, the head of the emergency response committee of the People Power Party, the members of the party voiced an opinion that changing the leadership with less than 80 days left until the general elections would bring negative impact on the election results. As the request for Han’s resignation came only 26 days after his appointment, following former party leader Kim Gi-hyeon’s resignation nine months after he took office, there are concerns that such a change in leadership may spell bad news for the general elections. The party members of North Gyeongsang Province who planned to hold an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon canceled the plan as some speculated that the meeting might be associated with pro-President Yoon Suk Yeol figures who are leading the request for Han’s resignation.

“The general elections should be conducted under the leadership of Han,” said an influential pro-Yoon member of the party. “The current issue should be handled well,” he added. “It is time to be discreet in one’s words and behavior. Now is the time to take deep breaths.” Another influential party member said that no drastic measures should be taken when the elections are expected to be this close. “It would create such a mess. I am not sure what they are doing.”

Meanwhile, some say that Han’s mention of a member of the emergency response committee Kim Kyung-yul’s running for the elections went too far. “Han shouldn’t have talked like an official nomination was made,” said Chung Young-hwan, the head of the nomination management committee, on his way to his office. “While he meant well by trying to deploy a great talent in a key position, he might have gone too far in terms of procedures,” Chung added. “Recruiting and deploying talents is great but it would be misunderstood as ‘private nomination’ if overstepping the work of the nomination management committee in terms of procedures.”


Hye-Ryung Choi herstory@donga.com