Party leader on third day of indefinite hunger strike as People Power Party factional infighting deepens

[The Financial News] People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok entered the third day of his hunger strike on the 17th, but the internal conflict triggered by the controversy over the expulsion of former party leader Han Dong-hoon shows no sign of easing. Jang began his hunger strike as a protest against the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)’s push to force through a second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Act, but the turmoil over Han’s expulsion has overlapped with this, turning the situation into a flashpoint for factional strife.
Jang has remained in the Rotunda Hall of the National Assembly Main Building, where he began his hunger strike sit-in on the 15th, and spent the previous night sleeping in a tent. Apart from slowly sipping water poured from a plastic bottle into a clear cup, he is said to have taken no food at all.
Throughout the day, People Power Party lawmakers and constituency party heads without parliamentary seats visited the protest site. Senior party officials, including Secretary-General Jeong Hee-yong, chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon, chief of staff Park Jun-tae, political affairs chief to the party leader Kim Jang-gyeom, and Supreme Council member Kim Min-soo, stayed by his side, while senior lawmakers such as five-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won and three-term lawmaker Lim Yi-ja also came to the sit-in. Some young party members have visited the hunger strike site to show support for Jang, and party elders are reportedly in contact with the leadership to arrange a visit of encouragement in the near future.
However, despite this being the third day of Jang’s hunger strike, conflicts inside and outside the party have not cooled. Former Daegu Metropolitan City mayor Hong Joon-pyo took to Facebook the same day and harshly denounced what he called “those senior lawmakers from the Yeongnam region who stab him in the back while frantically jockeying for a shot at becoming mayor, even as the party leader is risking his life on a hunger strike.”
He went on, “Those who sabotaged Daegu–Gyeongbuk (TK) unity and are now scrambling to cling to their posts, those who still pretend to be reformist young guns even after turning 60, some senior lawmakers in the Greater Seoul area who fawn over whoever is in power just to prolong their political lives, certain utterly useless members of the Standing Advisory Council, and the hangers-on who follow the main culprits behind the two impeachments — aren’t they all just political trash that should be swept away like garbage floating down the Han River in a flood?” Hong added, “I walked away from that scene because I couldn’t stand the sight of them,” and wrote, “If they are not cleared out, that party has no future.”
A confrontation is also continuing between the pro-Han Dong-hoon faction within the People Power Party and those close to Jang Dong-hyeok over his hunger strike. Lawmakers in the pro-Han faction have dismissed Jang’s hunger strike as a “stunt to divert public opinion over the Han Dong-hoon expulsion incident.” In connection with this, former Supreme Council member Kim Jong-hyuk plans to keep up pressure on the party leadership by holding rallies in front of the National Assembly Building calling for the expulsion of Han to be withdrawn. Some lawmakers in the pro-Yoon faction within the People Power Party have also voiced opposition on Facebook and elsewhere, saying this is “the worst-case scenario in which he harms his health through a hunger strike and local election candidates end up suffering damage.”


rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter