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The mirror politics of Jung Chung-rae and Yoon Suk Yeol

Published: 12 Aug. 2025, 00:02

Seo Seung-wook

The author is a digital news editor at the JoongAng Ilbo

It has been just over two months since the change in government, yet the reversal in the ruling and opposition parties’ positions is dizzying to watch. The shift has been particularly stark during Cabinet appointments. In the previous administration, the Democratic Party (DP) swung hammers and clubs at every controversial appointment made by former President Yoon Suk Yeol. Many of its lawmakers closed ranks around Kang Sun-woo, former nominee for minister of gender equality and family, who was facing allegations of abuse of power, and defended her until the government itself risked stumbling before finally changing course.

Newly-elected Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae delivers a speech during the party’s national convention at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi on Aug. 2. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The People Power Party (PPP) is no less contradictory. Four years ago, one of its members who kicked a party official in the shin ended up leaving the party, but now stands at the forefront of criticizing a ministerial nominee over the same type of abuse. Three years ago, the PPP fervently shielded Yoon when he managed a flood damage response from his home in Seocho District’s Acrovista apartment complex. This time, they hounded President Lee Jae Myung for taking a summer holiday despite warnings of “water bombs” in the forecast. If this is hypocrisy, it is still a lighter shade; the more serious double standards lie elsewhere.

At a recent luncheon with veterans of the Donggyo-dong faction — close aides to the late President Kim Dae-jung who had championed the “politics of forgiveness” even after enduring political persecution under authoritarian governments — one topic drew unanimous disapproval. It was DP Chairman Jung Chung-rae’s stance of refusing to recognize the PPP as a dialogue partner, insisting that “a handshake is with a person.”

These aides came of age when political giants like Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil dominated the scene. They fought fiercely, but could still dramatically compromise and uphold a sense of partnership at decisive moments. That era has faded into nostalgia. The political space once marked by courtesy and consideration has been overtaken by party zealotry and unyielding animosity. Seeing opponents dehumanized as “beasts” left the aides incredulous.

Jung’s recent conduct was striking. Following an unusual declaration that he would not shake hands “without an apology or reflection,” he escalated by saying, “Can you even call such people human?” and, “The PPP should be dissolved 10 or a hundred times.” He refused even routine inaugural greetings to the PPP and the Rebuilding Korea Party, both conservative-leaning. Buoyed by strong support from his party’s hard-liners and his unexpected landslide win at the party convention, Jung has opened his tenure with an aggressive posture toward the opposition. But using an opponent’s weaknesses to deny their legitimacy as a dialogue partner — does this not seem familiar?

Former president Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands with then Democratic Party leader Lee Jae Myung in their first official talks at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on April 29. [YONHAP]

Consider April 29 last year, when then-DP Chairman Lee Jae Myung sat before then-President Yoon and read from an A4 sheet, “It takes about 20 minutes to get here from Yeouido, but it took 700 days to actually come here." Yoon had repeatedly refused to meet the majority-party leader, offering no public explanation. The unspoken truth was that, as a former prosecutor, Yoon was avoiding a face-to-face meeting with someone who was then standing trial as a criminal defendant. Only after suffering a historic defeat in the general election did he grudgingly extend a reluctant hand. The public knows the result of that absolute hostility, of refusing to even be in the same room as a criminal defendant: a descent into a delusional martial law scheme and impeachment that left the conservative bloc on the brink of collapse. His conduct in detention today hardly needs elaboration.

Extremes meet, they say, and opponents grow alike in the act of denouncing each other. Jung’s vow to shake hands only with “people” and Yoon’s refusal to meet a criminal defendant are chilling reflections of one another. It leaves the unsettling impression that Korean politics is moving backward.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.