Outcasts of main opposition signal departure ahead of general elections
Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung, center, speaks during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
Fringe members of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), who have been critical of party Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung, are dropping hints at their departure from the party, claiming the party mainstream’s “stranglehold” against them is getting worse.
Their possible breakaway is gaining greater attention, as outliers of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) are also building up momentum for creating a new party, crying foul over the domination of loyalists to President Yoon Suk Yeol. Speculation is already growing over the outcasts’ coalition for a big tent party in next year’s general elections, though chances remain slim.
According to the DPK, it named Rep. Kim Yun-duk as the deputy chairperson of the party’s candidate screening committee. Kim is considered one of the loyalists to the party chairman.
The announcement came two days after the party named Chairman Lee as the head of the DPK talent recruitment committee, which will be in charge of exploring potential candidates for the general elections and allocating existing members to participate in election campaigns.
The series of appointments were interpreted as a weakening foothold for the DPK’s anti-Lee faction.
DPK Rep. Cho Eung-cheon, one the vocal critics of Lee, called the party "suffocating" in a radio interview with broadcaster CBS, Thursday.
“After Lee became the chairman of the party, the DPK is increasingly becoming his private guard,” Cho said. “In this stranglehold situation, if you say something critical of Lee, then you will be labeled as a traitor.”
Cho said that he will make efforts to “normalize” the party until December, but he will rethink his role with it, if the party sticks to its current direction.
On Wednesday, another Lee critic, DPK Rep. Lee Won-wook, also dropped hints at his departure from the party during a radio interview with broadcaster BBS, saying he and fellow lawmakers may make “a certain decision” if they find that the DPK is impossible to fix.
The DPK’s anti-Lee faction members suspect that the party leadership will likely amend the party’s candidate recommendation rules in favor of their loyalists. “The candidate selection for the upcoming general elections will be the most unfair one in the party’s history,” Rep. Kim Jong-min said.
Lee Jun-seok, former chairman of the ruling People Power Party, walks out of Dongdaegu Station in Daegu, Thursday. Yonhap
Against this backdrop, speculation is growing over a catch-all party encompassing outcasts of the rival parties.
On Friday, Lee Jun-seok, the former PPP chairman who has been floating ideas of leaving his party and creating a new one, met Keum Tae-sup, a former DPK lawmaker who is seeking to create a new party.
“There have been several chances of meeting Keum, but it was the first time for us to talk about political reform,” Lee wrote on Facebook. “I will continue to speak with those who are interested in reforming the politics.”
Keum recently formed a forum comprised of the DPK’s anti-Lee faction member Rep. Lee Sang-min and other politicians seeking to create their own parties.
Despite the meeting, the DPK’s anti-Lee faction members remained lukewarm about the former PPP chairman’s idea for a new party, because that the new party will likely end up being led by him, while DPK members would play only a supportive role. In this case, watchers anticipate the new party will likely be a copycat of the now-defunct Bareunmirae Party.
The Bareunmirae Party, which existed from 2018 to 2020, was formed as a coalition between moderate liberals and conservatives, who held approximately 30 National Assembly seats. Though it pursued “coexistence of reformative conservatives and reasonable progressives,” it ended up being dispersed into a number of smaller parties.