DPK intensifies offensive against incoming ruling party chief

DPK's floor leader Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, right, speaks at a leadership meeting in National Assembly in Seoul. Dec. 22. Yonhap

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) stepped up its attacks on the incoming interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), urging him to "speak boldly what he has to say" to President Yoon Suk Yeol amid criticism he is nothing more than Yoon's "avatar."

Han Dong-hoon, considered one of Yoon's closest confidants, stepped down as justice minister Thursday to take over as chief of the PPP's emergency committee ahead of next year's general elections.

The PPP has hailed the 50-year-old as a "fresh and innovative" face to lead reforms within the party, but the main opposition party has discounted him as merely a puppet of Yoon.

And a day after his nomination, the DPK escalated its attacks on Han.

"He should speak boldly what he has to say to President Yoon Suk Yeol," said Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, the DPK's floor leader, at a leadership meeting. "The main reason why people turned their backs on the ruling party was due to its leader, who never stood against the presidential office."

Ramping up the rhetoric, Hong pressured the incoming PPP chief to support two special investigation proposals, one of them into stock manipulation allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, as well as its plan to launch a parliamentary probe on other pending issues.

The DPK plans to railroad the two special investigation proposals through the National Assembly next week. Yoon can exercise his veto power against the proposals, though it would run the risk of backlash ahead of April's general elections.

"The more he tries to make the ruling party a guard for Kim Keon Hee, the harsher people's judgment will be," Rep. Jang Kyung-tae, a senior member of the DPK, said in a radio interview. (Yonhap)