PPP in total disarray: no renewal, no message, no direction

Lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) stage a protest at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday, condemning the special counsel's request for an arrest warrant for former PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, while boycotting President Lee Jae Myung’s policy speech on next year’s budget proposal. Joint Press Corps

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is slipping deeper into political turmoil, caught between hard-line supporters and a widening public backlash.

Since the martial law crisis late last year under then-President Yoon Suk Yeol of the PPP, political observers say the country's main conservative party has yet to show any signs of reform. It has instead relied on boycotts of parliamentary sessions and government events, along with inflammatory rhetoric and internal feuds that have alienated moderate voters.

The party’s boycott of President Lee Jae Myung’s policy speech, its declaration of “total war” against the administration, and a series of verbal gaffes by senior members have reinforced its image as combative but purposeless.

Even during last month’s parliamentary audit, the PPP failed to mount a single effective challenge, fueling perceptions that the opposition has lost its political edge entirely.

“Today’s PPP can hardly be called a healthy opposition,” political commentator Park Sang-byoung said.

“The party is paralyzed by a self-serving system dominated by entrenched interests in the southeastern strongholds of Busan, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, where nomination virtually guarantees election. That structure prevents any real change.”

Park added that the party’s leadership has become “a machine of survival rather than conviction,” focused on protecting internal power rather than offering alternatives to the current administration.

“The PPP is neither an ideological nor a policy-driven party anymore. It has turned into a network of self-preservation,” he said.

Another political analyst, Hwang Tae-soon, shared a similar view, arguing that the party has lost its direction under the leadership of Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok, who remains tied to far-right loyalists favoring confrontation over compromise.

“An opposition should offer ideas and unity, not just slogans and outrage,” Hwang said. “Under the banner of endless resistance, the PPP has become captive to its own hard-core base. Without moderate conservatives, it ceases to be a real opposition.”

Hwang warned that next year’s local elections could see a repeat of the party’s crushing defeat in 2018, when it lost nearly all metropolitan seats besides those in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.

“If nothing changes, the PPP faces electoral extinction beyond its regional strongholds,” he said. “The public will deliver its own verdict before the party can fix itself.”

Inside the party, few seem willing to confront the problem. Park noted that most lawmakers remain complacent, believing that as long as they secure their nominations, they will keep their seats. Predicting that “only a major defeat can break the party’s patronage system,” he described the upcoming local elections as “the last opportunity for political cleansing.”

Hwang also described the upcoming vote as a moment of reckoning for Korean conservatism. “This should be a healing process for the right,” he said.

“Without a sense of remorse and renewal, the PPP will remain a party of the past.”

A recent poll highlights the crisis.

According to a Gallup Korea survey conducted from Tuesday to Thursday on 1,002 adults nationwide, 40 percent of the respondents said they support the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), while 26 percent supported the PPP and another 24 percent expressed no party preference. Compared with the previous week, DPK support slipped 1 percentage point, while the PPP’s rating remained unchanged.

Analysts say the numbers confirm that the PPP’s confrontational tactics are eroding its support base.

“The party is stuck in the rhetoric of ‘punishing the government’ rather than defining its own values,” Park said. “Unless it resets its message and leadership, the next election could mark a breaking point for Korea’s conservative movement.”

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Details of the poll’s methodology and results are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.