hankyoreh

People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon (left) speaks with President Yoon Suk-yeol on Oct. 21, 2024. (courtesy of presidential office)

President Yoon Suk-yeol was born in 1960. During his prosecutor days, he had some drinking buddies who were the same age. Among them, there was a clear-headed fellow who told him, “Don’t you ever go into politics.” Yoon asked why. The friend replied: “You don’t listen to other people. Someone like that shouldn’t become a politician.” 

Yoon ended up ignoring that advice and jumped into politics. He was elected president. He is approaching the second half of his term. How are things working out for him, you ask?

Yoon’s meeting with People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon on Oct. 21 will go down in history as a major turning point in Korea’s political history. It was the day when Yoon and Han officially parted ways, when the PPP officially split into the pro-Yoon and pro-Han factions. 

Han made demands for internal personnel reforms, for first lady Kim Keon-hee to cease activities and keep a lower profile, for clarifications regarding the various suspicions and allegations surrounding the first lady, and for the appointment of an independent inspector general. These are not excessive demands. They are a direct reflection of what the Korean people want. 

In a poll conducted by Gallup Korea on Oct. 18, 63% of respondents said they “support the appointment of a special counsel” to investigate Kim Keon-hee’s acceptance of a luxury handbag and allegations that she engaged in stock manipulation. Only 26% said that a special counsel was “unnecessary.” Regarding the first lady’s public profile and activities, 67% said she “needs to reduce it,” while only 19% said “the current level is reasonable.”

In a National Barometer Survey published on Oct. 24, 73% of respondents said they “agree” with demands for the first lady to stop her public activities, while only 20% said they “do not agree.” (National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website [in Korean]: https://www.nesdc.go.kr/portal/main.do) This is one of those cases of what’s called an “overwhelming majority.” 

A president fighting public sentiment

Yet Yoon completely dismissed all of Han’s demands. During an unofficial briefing the day after Yoon’s meeting with Han, an official from the presidential office released Yoon’s specific remarks during the meeting. According to the official, Yoon made the following demands of Han: 

“Even if we want to oppose these ridiculous allegations, it’s not right for the presidential office to battle them alone. If the presidential office issues a statement, it’d be nice for the party to back it up. If the opposition makes an absurd attack, it’d be nice for the party to join the counteroffensive. Shouldn’t you help us out in the resistance against such a political offensive?” 

The remarks betray Yoon’s firm belief that the allegations surrounding the first lady are “ridiculous,” “absurd,” and part of a “political offensive.” It’s so dumbfounding that I’m left speechless. I can understand why Han didn’t brief the results of the meeting and why he canceled his appointments for the following morning.

After being completely dismissed by the president, Han resorted to appealing to the public. During an expanded PPP meeting on Oct. 23, Han made the following comments:

“The courts will start announcing their verdicts regarding the criminal suspicions against the leader of the Democratic Party on Nov.15.” 

“What should the face of our party look like on that day? We need to have resolved the public’s demands for clarifications regarding allegations involving the first lady. If the allegations remain unresolved on that day, and are still the No. 1 topic of discontent among the people, then the people who have walked away from the Democratic Party, like ‘The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas,’ will not come to us.” 

“The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas” is a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin that depicts a utopian society dependent on the misery of one child. The reference has come to signify any form of hypocritical paradise. Han’s remarks reflect a desire to attract voters who have walked away from the Democratic Party. 

Han also said that recommendations for an independent inspector general should be made irrespective of the appointment of a director for the North Korean Human Rights Foundation. Yet a high-ranking official in the presidential office said: “Humans rights in North Korea are a Constitutional value and reflect the party’s identity.” It was a de facto rejection of Han’s proposal. It was a refusal to accept an independent inspector general. 

The division between Yoon and Han is on the verge of becoming a civil war. If things continue at this pace, there’s a chance that Han will demand Yoon’s defection from the party or that lawmakers acting under Yoon’s order will call for Han’s resignation as party leader. 

What is happening in this country? Why are the president and the leader of the ruling party at each other’s throats? When it’s dog-eat-dog, both parties bleed. So why are they fighting?  

There are many reasons, but the biggest one is Yoon’s weak political leadership. In short, Yoon is not qualified to be either president or politician. Politicians do not directly oppose public sentiment. Am I being too rough? 

People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon speaks at an expanded meeting of party executives held at the National Assembly on Oct. 23, 2024. To his left sits PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho. (Kim Gyoung-ho/Hankyoreh)

Ploys to hide behind foreign policy and national security?

Yoon Yeo-joon, a former Hannara Party lawmaker who also served as the Blue House press secretary and as the environment minister during the Kim Young-sam administration, published a book titled “Presidential Qualifications” in 2011. The subtitle was: “The key is leadership after election.” 
 
“This book deals with statecraft, which is practical leadership of a country. This practical leadership is the ability to manage and supervise the ‘implementation’ of the ‘collective decisions’ that are required by the process of establishing, preserving, and developing the special class of political communities that comprise the ‘modern nation state,’” he writes.

“More specifically, this refers to the professional capacity required of the agent of ‘the body politic known as the nation,’ such as the maintenance of constitutional principles and national institutions; the formation and preservation of national unity; the formation and execution of the proper policies in response to various internal and external issues; and the management of various political factions and individuals,” he goes on.  

Based on these standards, is Yoon qualified to be president? I invite the reader to be the judge. 

“Regarding their own side, they [politicians] are often forgiving, applying the ethics of conviction that say one’s own side of the political aisle is the side of good, while they not only demand the strictest application of the law when it comes to the other side but often view them as acting with evil intentions. This is unacceptable,” Yoon Yeo-joon warned. 

What of our present situation? Yoon seems to fit that description, with his tendency to label his opponents “anti-state forces.” Regarding Han Dong-hoon, a high-ranking official within the presidential office recently commented that the PPP leader “needs to maintain his identity as the leader of the ruling party under the current administration.” At this rate, it looks like Yoon will come out to call Han an enemy of the state. 

As I keep mentioning, Yoon is the primary cause of internal division in the ruling party. For how long will Yoon continue his refusal to budge on the first lady issue? What is he envisioning? What’s going to happen? 

Choo Kyung-ho, the PPP floor leader, announced that the party would hold a general assembly after the National Assembly audits, which concluded on Nov. 1. The PPP’s general assembly begins on Sunday, and is expected to produce a decision regarding the recommendation of an independent inspector general. It also looks as if we’ll see the outlines of a dedicated office for the first lady’s affairs in early November. Presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said as much following Yoon’s meeting with Han. 

On Nov. 10, Yoon will officially enter the second half of his term. There is a chance that he will hold a press conference or a briefing on state affairs. He may even try to soothe public discontent by expressing regret or apologizing. 

Yoon thinks that he is “sincere” when it comes to foreign policy and national security. He is likely counting on major events in the areas of foreign policy and national security to occur during November that will allow him to sweep aside issues involving the first lady. 

For instance, the turmoil caused by North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia is growing greater. Following his summit with the Polish president on Oct. 24, Yoon said: “We have been working under the general principle of not directly providing lethal weapons [to Ukraine]. But we may consider relaxing that principle depending on the actions of the North Korean troops.” This is scary. 

The US presidential election is on Tuesday. Regardless of the results, related news is expected to pour in. This is good for Yoon and the first lady. On Nov. 15 and Nov. 25, courts are expected to announce their verdicts in the first trials of criminal charges against Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. Lee’s misfortune is Yoon’s happiness. 

So, how about it? It’s likely that Yoon is leaning on something “reliable.” Obviously, there’s no guarantee that things will go according to his hopes. 

Revote on special counsel for first lady could lead to calls for impeachment

I’ll wrap this up. Is time on Yoon’s side? It doesn’t appear so.  

Suspicions regarding the first lady’s involvement in the manipulation of public polls, brought to the surface by Myung Tae-kyun’s statements, are slowly being revealed as fact. The Democratic Party is likely to push through the third bill to assign a special counsel to the first lady’s case during the National Assembly’s plenary session on Nov. 14. 

Even if Yoon vetoes the bill, the National Assembly’s revote on the special counsel will be held anonymously, making it more likely to be passed. If the special counsel bill is passed, there is a high chance that people will set their sights on impeaching Yoon. 

Is there a way to avoid an unfortunate impeachment incident? 

There is. Yoon simply has to propose a constitutional amendment to cut his presidential term short, leave the PPP, and vow to focus on governing the country. He’s been shown to lack the qualifications to be president, so he should pack things in early and forfeit some of the remainder of his term. 

Once discussions of amending the Constitution start, the public ire over the first lady will simmer down a bit. Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party has no reason to oppose such a move. One could even argue that it’s the only way to avoid having to force Yoon out of office. The question is, will it be possible? What do you think, reader? 

By Seong Han-yong, senior political writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]