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People Power Party flounders in YouTuber Jeon Han-gil controversy

Published: 12 Aug. 2025, 00:00

Korean history lecturer Jeon Han-gil attends the People Power Party’s joint campaign rally for Daegu and North Gyeongsang at the EXCO convention center in Buk District, Daegu, on Aug. 8. Jeon incited the audience to chant “traitor” during the speech of a candidate who supported former President Yoon Su Yeol’s impeachment. [YONHAP]

With its Aug. 22 national convention approaching, the People Power Party (PPP) finds itself mired in a dispute regarding conservative YouTuber Jeon Han-gil. On Aug. 11, the PPP’s Ethics Committee announced it would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Jeon for disrupting a joint campaign speech. Earlier, interim leader Song Eon-seog said the party could not tolerate “agitational acts that tarnish the party’s reputation and incite division and conflict.” The convention’s election committee also expressed “strong regret” for Jeon’s conduct.

Rather than using the joint speech to present its vision, the PPP has spent four days consumed by the Jeon controversy. A vocal supporter of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, Jeon disrupted the first rally in Daegu on Friday. Claiming to be from an online outlet, he sat in the press section using a badge that had reportedly been issued to another outlet. During the speech by a candidate who supported Yoon’s impeachment, Jeon encouraged shouts of “traitor,” turning the event into chaos.

Party leaders have said they will bar Jeon from Busan rally on Tuesday, yet some candidates have defended him. On Monday, Supreme Council contenders Kim Min-su, Kim Jae-won, Kim Tae-woo and Son Beom-gyu appeared on Jeon’s YouTube channel. Sitting side by side as if being interviewed, they questioned the disciplinary move, calling it “retaliation” or arguing he had proper media credentials. They downplayed the disturbance as strong audience response or justified reaction to provocation. Jeon, emboldened, claimed all four agreed the disciplinary action was wrong and accused party leaders of “power abuse” and “press suppression,” suggesting they would not treat KBS the same way.

The party’s leadership candidates also share blame. When Jeon asserted the need to “protect former President Yoon,” contenders Kim Moon-soo and Jang Dong-hyeok pledged to allow his return to the party. That stance comes even as Yoon refuses to cooperate with prosecutors or attend trial proceedings from his cell in Seoul Detention Center — hardly a posture that would win back public support.

The PPP’s retreat into factional politics, allowing a former cram school instructor to line up candidates, is partly a product of its primary rules: 80 percent of votes come from party members and only 20 percent from public opinion. Even the Democratic Party includes 30 percent polling in its leadership races. For a party in greater need of boosting approval ratings, such a structure makes candidates more inclined to seek Jeon’s favor rather than broaden appeal to the general public.

Since impeachment and defeat in the presidential election, the PPP has repeatedly failed to reform. With little capacity to check the government or ruling party, it remains fixated on its internal power struggle. If it keeps floundering in Jeon’s mire, it risks losing even the small base it has left.

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.