Opposition Gains Momentum After Kim Seung-won and Yong Hye-in Fall from Consideration; All-Out Public-Opinion Campaign Before Chuseok

[Financial News] As the Lee Jae Myung administration ran into roadblocks, with Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee Yong Hye-in and Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won successively falling from consideration, the People Power Party launched a sweeping offensive. Ahead of the Chuseok holiday, it mobilized party lawmakers, local councilors and party members for a full-scale public-opinion campaign. Its aim is to highlight controversies including single-stock leveraged ETFs and real estate policies, using the "personnel fiasco" as a springboard to gain an edge in the battle for public sentiment during Chuseok family gatherings.
The People Power Party held a "public report rally on the failures of the Lee Jae Myung administration" in front of the National Assembly's main building on the 22nd. The party leadership, including leader Jang Dong-hyuk and floor leader Chung Jeom-sik, as well as many party lawmakers, local chapter chairs, local councilors and party members, filled the venue. Attendees held Taegeukgi flags and placards bearing slogans such as "We strongly condemn the destruction of livelihoods and the Constitution" and "President, apologize for policy failures and a personnel fiasco." The People Power Party estimated attendance at around 10,000.
At the rally, Jang Dong-hyuk launched an across-the-board offensive, citing recent controversies including an incident believed to have involved a land mine in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the integration of military academies, the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers, calls for the re-nomination of Supreme Court justices, a shortage of ballots and rising home prices. He criticized the administration, saying, "The government is taking away people's homes and property through its real estate policies, and people's bank accounts are melting away in the stock market." He added, "They call the surge in real estate prices 'price flattening,' but we need to flatten President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating to 10 percent."
Regarding the successive falls from consideration of the two ministerial nominees, he raised his voice, saying, "I know that the Gyeonggi-Seongnam line and Kim Hyun-ji, head of the Blue House executive office, are behind this. The people ruining South Korea right now are Lee Jae Myung and Kim Hyun-ji." He continued, "We must drive out Noona Hyun-ji."
With President Lee's approval rating currently stuck in the 30-percent range, the People Power Party plans to seize the initiative in national politics around the Chuseok holiday. Because the opposition lacks a sufficient number of seats, the only way for it to take the initiative is by mobilizing public opinion. The People Power Party is also considering an out-of-parliament campaign after Chuseok. However, it is reportedly weighing the move carefully because it could disrupt parliamentary activities during the annual parliamentary audit.
The People Power Party is seeking to build on the momentum from bringing down former nominees Kim and Yong, and appears to be directly targeting President Lee and Kim Hyun-ji. With Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, one of those responsible for personnel appointments, having offered his resignation, the party appears intent on dealing President Lee a direct blow as well. The People Power Party is determined to have Kim Hyun-ji and Jung Jin-sang, former political coordination chief of the Democratic Party of Korea, appear as witnesses at the parliamentary audit. It remains uncertain whether the ruling and opposition parties will be able to agree on their selection as witnesses.
Some observers say that, to seize the initiative in national politics, the People Power Party must overcome the challenge of keeping its internal feud from coming to the fore. No final decision has been made on whether to impose severe disciplinary measures on four lawmakers from the non-leadership faction—Cho Kyoung-tae, Kwon Young-jin, Seo Beom-su and Jin Jong-oh—and a second ethics committee review and court injunction proceedings remain pending. A subtle war of nerves between independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon and the pro-leadership faction is also continuing.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Korea has protested the People Power Party's public report rally, calling it "nitpicking." Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's floor leader, said that day, "It is a mean-spirited attempt to once again turn politics into a battleground," and criticized it as "quite simply, 'blind obstruction of the administration'—criticizing the president first, no matter what he does or says."

[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter