PPP continues to fall 1 year after Yoon's ouster

Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the main opposition People Power Party, enters a room for a meeting with the party leadership at the National Assembly, Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

One year after former President Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster over his botched martial law crisis, the People Power Party (PPP), to which he belonged, is facing its worst slump in years. A new poll shows the main opposition party trailing the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) by 30 percentage points — the widest gap between the two parties since 2018.

The anniversary did not pass quietly. Both pro- and anti-Yoon rallies were held in Seoul on Saturday, the one-year anniversary of the Constitutional Court's decision to uphold the National Assembly's impeachment motion against him, underscoring how he continues to divide the country. From detention, Yoon released an Easter message shared through his lawyer, urging supporters to persevere. "Even if the current times are difficult and hard, I pray that this Easter Sunday becomes one where we are reborn as children of God, enduring hardship and holding onto the hope of salvation," he wrote.

The message points to a continuing challenge for the PPP: Yoon’s ongoing visibility remains a political liability, and the party is paying the price.

The nationwide survey by Gallup Korea released Friday and conducted on 1,001 adults from March 31 to April 2 shows the DPK's approval rating at 48 percent while the PPP's was at 18 percent.

The 30-percentage-point gap is the largest since November 2018 by-elections, when the Liberty Korea Party, the predecessor to the PPP at the time, lost four seats in the National Assembly in the aftermath of the 2017 impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, also a member of the conservative bloc. It is also the PPP's lowest Gallup Korea result since November 2020.

These poll figures come amid mounting unease over the leadership of Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok, who took the helm in August 2025 and is known for his opposition to Yoon's impeachment. They also cast a gloomy outlook for the PPP, with less than two months left before the local elections.

Supporters of impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol hold a street rally near the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, Saturday, marking the first anniversary of his impeachment. Yonhap

Failure to break with Yoon

Experts point to the PPP leadership's failure to cut ties with Yoon as the primary driver of its declining numbers.

“The decline in the PPP’s approval rating is largely attributable to the so-called ‘Yoon, Again’ move by its leadership, which is focusing on securing far-right supporters of Yoon, eliminating promising candidates and therefore causing division within the party,” Rhee Jong-hoon, a political commentator, told The Korea Times Sunday.

Rhee was blunt about the party's prospects.

"It seems it is already too late to recover from the downfall," he said. "The party squandered its chances in the recent nominations for the June 3 local elections by failing to recruit fresh faces or reach out to centrist voters, instead bringing in young Yoon loyalists. The PPP leadership should have stepped down and the party should have formed an emergency committee to seek a breakthrough and convince the public it had changed."

The PPP's weakening support is evident across most regions. According to the poll, the DPK leads with 51 percent against the PPP's 13 percent in Seoul. In Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province, traditionally conservative strongholds, the DPK posted 42 percent to the PPP's 27 percent. The PPP led the DPK only in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, where it recorded 35 percent to the DPK's 26 percent, a margin that is unthinkably narrow in what has long been the party's most reliable stronghold.

Reps. Jang Dong-hyeok, left, party leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), and Bae Hyun-jin of the PPP attend a party meeting at the National Assembly, March 9. Yonhap

Growing concerns within PPP

The numbers have sharpened anxiety within the party, with members questioning Jang's capacity to lead the party into the June 3 elections.

Rep. Bae Hyun-jin, who heads the PPP's Seoul metropolitan campaign, said low approval ratings were making candidate recruitment difficult.

“The PPP has an approval rating of some 13 percent in Seoul. Potential candidates are not coming forward as they are afraid of losing campaign money,” Rep. Bae Hyun-jin wrote Friday on social media, calling on Jang to step down.

Under the Election Law, a candidate who receives at least 15 percent of the valid votes in an election can be reimbursed for campaign expenses.

Further details of the Gallup Korea poll are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s website.