hankyoreh

Han Dong-hoon leaves after making a statement on the outcomes of the general election on April 10, 2024, at the People Power Party’s headquarters in Yeouido. (pool photo)

Han Dong-hoon resigned as interim leader of Korea’s ruling People Power Party on Thursday, holding himself responsible for the party’s crushing defeat in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections.
 
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and other presidential aides have also tendered their resignations to President Yoon Suk-yeol.
 
The People Power Party is hurrying to save face after feeling the public’s wrath, only managing to win 108 seats while the opposition snatched 192. Still, the party is likely to be in disarray for the foreseeable future.
 
At a briefing held at 10:40 am on Thursday, as vote tallies were being finalized, Yoon’s chief of staff, Lee Kwan-sup, said the president would “humbly accept the will of the people expressed in the general election and do his best to reform national policy and stabilize the economy and the livelihood of the people,”
 
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo verbally tendered his resignation to Yoon, and all members of the presidential staff at the senior secretary level and above, except for the National Security Office, also gave their notices, a senior presidential office official said.
 
Twenty minutes later, at 11 am, Han Dong-hoon held a press conference at the PPP’s headquarters in Yeouido, saying, “I humbly accept the will of the public and will be the first to reflect on what’s happened. I will take full responsibility for the results of the election and step down as interim leader of the PPP.”
 
The former prosecutor’s resignation comes 107 days after he stepped down as minister of justice and took up the role of interim leader of the PPP on Dec. 26, 2023. While his term was initially set to run until June 28, Han Dong-hoon appears to have been unable to avoid responsibility for the abysmal defeat of his party.
 
“I apologize to the people on behalf of our party, which failed to win over the hearts of the people,” he said. When asked if the responsibility for the defeat lay both with him and the office, he responded, “I am the only person to blame.”

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo leaves an event marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the provisional government of the Republic of Korea held in Seoul’s Seodaemun District on April 11, 2024. (Yonhap)

 
Key party officials, including its secretary-general and senior spokesperson, also resigned on the same day. The presidential office and Han Dong-hoon reportedly coordinated the announcement of the en masse resignations in advance.
 
It is unusual for the leadership of the presidential office, the administration, and the ruling party to simultaneously announce their resignations immediately after a general election defeat. Thus the recent mass departures are seen as a measure to appease the public as well as being a pre-emptive attempt to shut down the blame game and any subsequent infighting within the ruling party and beyond.
 
Yoon now has to face the major issue of reshuffling his Cabinet and presidential office. While clearing up the air in the party, the PPP will operate under Yun Jae-ok, the party’s acting leader. The party is expected to hold an assembly with the winners of the general election as early as next week for a thorough discussion on matters related to the future of the party, such as the party convention.
 
Many within the party regard Yoon as the chief cause of the party’s defeat in the general election, and the party’s reorganization process is expected to be painful as it struggles to differentiate itself from Yoon and reestablish its relationship with the administration.
 
“Of course the party is going to fall into chaos. For the party convention, we need someone that both the public and the party can approve of to step forward, but a hero like that won’t spring out of thin air,” a first-term lawmaker told the Hankyoreh. 
 
Calls for a change in the ruling party’s national policy are also emerging. Ahn Cheol-soo, who managed to win his fourth term as a lawmaker by winning in the Bundang A district in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, wrote on Facebook: “I cannot help but strongly press for the ruling party to change its national policy and humbly push on toward innovation. It should not stop until the public gives its wholehearted approval.”

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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