South Korean Ruling Party Candidates Sideline Jang Dong-hyeok as Local Election Tensions Grow

People Power Party candidates running in the June 3 local elections are increasingly keeping their distance from party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, as internal disputes over nominations continue and his recent U.S. trip draws criticism. In key battlegrounds including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region, candidates and lawmakers are moving to set up their own campaign committees, effectively sidelining the central leadership.

Jang on the 22nd began his first regional outreach since returning from the United States. He traveled to Yangyang in Gangwon Province to support Gov. Kim Jin-tae, who is running for another term, but faced blunt criticism in person.

Meeting Jang at a fishing village community center in Yangyang County’s Susan-ri, Kim said he initially believed he could win by working hard on his own, but added that the party needed to provide support. He said that after spending all day on the campaign trail, he often felt alarmed whenever news from the central party surfaced.

Kim said about 300 party candidates are running in Gangwon Province and likely feel the same way. He added that some candidates urged him to speak even more forcefully when meeting Jang. Kim said he hoped Jang would “return to the great Jang Dong-hyeok of the past” and called on him to “take responsibility and resolve” the situation.

As Kim’s remarks were interpreted by some as a call for Jang to step back or resign, Jang dismissed that reading, saying he did not know what Kim meant by “take responsibility and resolve it.” Jang said he was working to achieve the best possible result in the local elections and that this was his responsibility. He said he took Kim’s comments as words of concern for the party and would consider what the central party should do to win.

It was Jang’s second local-election visit after Incheon. On April 6, he held an on-site meeting of the party’s top leadership in Incheon but was rebuked by Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, who said Jang was becoming “a burden to the public.” Jang had planned to hold another on-site leadership meeting in Gangwon on the 22nd, but it was replaced with a campaign pledge event.

The party leadership plans to launch a central election committee once nominations are finalized. But with regional groups pressing ahead with separate campaign organizations, Jang’s standing is narrowing.

Lawmakers in Gyeonggi Province have said they will launch a province-level campaign committee. At a news conference at the National Assembly the previous day, they said the Democratic Party had already finalized its candidates and was campaigning across Gyeonggi, while the People Power Party had not even decided on its candidates. They said they would immediately form a Gyeonggi campaign committee and that the province would move first in a crisis to serve as a forward base for winning the greater Seoul area. Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon, Busan mayoral candidate Park Hyung-joon and North Gyeongsang Gov. Lee Cheol-woo also signaled plans to form separate campaign committees.