Betrayal in the People Power Party; Constituents Upset

2024-12-13, Tara O

Han Dong-hoon (한동훈), who tried to usurp President Yoon Suk-yeol’s power, has publicly called for impeaching the president from his own party, the People Power Party (PPP), contrary to the party platform of opposing the impeachment.  Han is the leader of the PPP, but is not a National Assemblyman.  Thus, he cannot vote in the impeachment proceedings. 

Meanwhile, Kweon Seong-dong (권성동) became a new floor leader for the PPP on 12 December 2024.  Under his predecessor Choo Kyung-ho (추경호), the PPP members voted on the party platform on 5 December 2024 to oppose the impeachment.  Kweon confirmed that the party platform remains the same.

Despite this, 7 PPP lawmakers (of 108) plan to join the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and vote to impeach President Yoon:

• Cho Kyoung-tae (조경태)
• Ahn Cheol-soo (안철수)
• Jin Jong-oh (진종오)
• Han Ji-ah (한지아)
• Bae Hyun-jin (배현진)
• Kim Jae-sub (김재섭)
• Kim Yea-ji (김예지)

Han Dong-hoon, Cho Kyoung-tae

Ahn Cheol-soo, Kim Ji-ye

Jin Jong-oh, Han Dong-hoon

Han Dong-hoon, Han Ji-ah

Bae Hyun-jin

Han Dong-hoon, Kim Jae-sub

Their constituents are upset at their betrayals, and are pressuring them to change their positions.

The Democratic Party of Korea vowed to introduce an impeachment proposal every Saturday. The next one is scheduled for 14 December (this coming Saturday).

If President Yoon is impeached, it will likely have significant consequences for the PPP, and more importantly, for the Republic of Korea.  It would embolden the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) even more and Lee Jae-myung, its leader, could become the next president.

The DPK is the one that made its party platform to remove the word “freedom” from the constitution in 2018 under Moon jae-in.  It is the party that passed a law to criminalize the defectors sending leaflets to North Korea.  There is no law to prosecute Chinese spies, and when President Yoon tried to change the criminal code article, DPK fervently opposed, as Yoon pointed out in his address to the Koreans on 12 December.  DPK had been trying to abolish the National Security Act; without it, North Korean spies cannot be prosecuted.  DPK maintains a strong anti-Japan position, and its members stir up anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea.

Lee jae-myung, Xing Haiming

Lee Jae-myung had taken a pro-China, anti-US, and anti-Japan stance.  When he ran for president in 2017, he told the Chinese state media CCTV that he’d renege on the THAAD deployment if he became the president.  Lee fully supports One China policy, which he told Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul in June 2023.  Lee also suggested taking a joint position on the Fukushima waters situation.  He referred to the American military in Korea as an “occupation force.”  On January 19, 2024, Lee made another controversial comment.  Lee stated, “We should make every effort not to denigrate or undermine the efforts of…my/our Kim Jong-il of North Korea, and Juseok Kim Il-sung.” [Juseok is an honorific term often used to describe the central figure in a communist system.]