“TEAR DOWN OUR HOUSE”
Others pointed to the PPP’s failure to fully separate itself from Yoon’s unpopular and unconstitutional martial law.
“They failed to draw in moderate voters,” said political commentator Park Sangbyoung. “Instead, Yoon Suk Yeol sided with far-right ideas, and Kim Moon-soo, who has a history of working with far-right groups, was their candidate.”
Park said the “complete downfall” of the conservatives could damage Korean politics.
“To be a true opposing force against the Lee administration, they need to be reborn, even resorting to blowing up the party and creating a new one,” Park said.
South Korea’s conservatives have staged unlikely comebacks before. Yoon is the second conservative president in a row to be removed from office, after Park Geun-hye was impeached and jailed in a corruption scandal in 2017.
Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said “until they clear the mess inside” it will be difficult for the right to stand up to Lee.
“Rather than crisis of conservatives, I would call it the falling of People Power Party because of its leadership that runs the party based on self-interests, not fundamental values,” he said.
In the wake of Yoon’s impeachment, then-PPP leader Han Dong-hoon promised that the president would resign and the party would help lead an interim government.
When Yoon and his backers rejected that plan and fought his removal, it divided the party and led to Han’s resignation.
On Wednesday Han, who unsuccessfully ran for the PPP nomination, said the party needs to cooperate with the new liberal administration on economy and security but it must not compromise on challenging any effort by the ruling party to “destroy the judiciary system”.
The PPP has accused the Democratic Party of trying to pass bills that they say are meant to shield President Lee, who faces a slew of corruption charges, from any further legal troubles.
“Please do not give up,” Han said. “It is the last chance to end the same old politics and to establish politics that put the people first.”
Lawmaker Park Jeong-hoon said in a Facebook post that the party must change if it wants to survive.
“We must tear down our house and rebuild it. This is not a matter of factions but a matter of the party’s survival.”
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