People Power Party faces a post-election choice

Chin Jung-kwon

The author is a professor at Kwangwoon University.

The public message delivered in the June 3 local elections was remarkably balanced. Voters handed a harsh judgment to an ineffective opposition party still clinging to the slogan “Yoon Again,” while issuing a serious warning to a ruling party that had grown increasingly arrogant and overconfident.

People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok suffered a clear defeat. In Busan, South Chungcheong and Gangwon, virtually every place he visited became politically unfavorable territory. Judging from the situation in South Gyeongsang, even Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon might have won by a larger margin had he not been associated with Jang’s political brand.

By contrast, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Han Dong-hoon, who won the Busan Buk-A district race, succeeded in part because they kept their distance from Jang’s leadership. Han’s victory was particularly striking. Despite intense resistance and obstruction from party leaders, he defeated PPP candidate Park Min-sik by an overwhelming margin.

Under normal circumstances, a faction responsible for such a defeat would step aside. Yet the so-called party establishment appears almost cheerful. Candidates they had marginalized went on to win and deliver a blow to the Democratic Party (DP), allowing the leadership to enjoy indirect political benefits. Jang has shown no intention of resigning. Instead, he has joined hard-line supporters in calling for new elections.

The irony is obvious. He is effectively questioning the results of elections in which candidates from his own party were victorious. He has even echoed claims of election fraud, citing astronomical odds such as “one in 590 million.” Whatever one thinks of the argument, one conclusion seems unavoidable: Jang’s political path is not the path the PPP should follow.

Yet the party still appears unable to choose between two diverging directions. It has not removed a leader whom many regard as politically finished. One reason may be a sense of shared responsibility. Many party figures tolerated or supported Jang’s actions while he was in power. They may hope to keep him as a symbolic figurehead until his term ends. But political zombies rarely remain still. They continue to create problems.

The party has also failed to take a clear position on Han Dong-hoon’s possible return. The hesitation likely reflects concerns that his comeback would threaten the privileges long enjoyed by established factions. Yet whether Han formally returns is not the key issue. Even Han himself has said there is no need to rush.

What matters is that PPP politicians learn from his campaign. Han confronted the “traitor” label head-on in a conservative stronghold and persuaded voters who were initially hostile. After former President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, which Han ultimately supported, party lawmakers should have been doing exactly that. It is late, but not too late.

Han’s campaign also demonstrated authenticity. Though he is a Seoul-born former elite prosecutor living in the famous Tower Palace apartment complex, he won local trust over candidates with deeper regional roots. He made residents the protagonists of the campaign. Local figures such as an elderly woman selling rice cakes, a boy practicing shadow boxing and a young woman working at a sandwich shop became the faces of his online videos.

The campaign also showed that conservative politics can compete emotionally as well as ideologically. For years, conservative election efforts seemed outdated compared with those of the DP. Han’s campaign reversed that perception and offered discouraged conservatives both hope and a model for victory.

Ironically, the current leadership has helped produce two credible presidential contenders: Oh Se-hoon and Han Dong-hoon. Neither succeeded because of Jang’s support. They won by distancing themselves from him or by confronting him directly. The PPP now stands at a crossroads. It must decide whether to continue down Jang Dong-hyeok’s path or begin a new journey along the road represented by Han and Oh.