People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok says he will weigh resignation amid 15% support

Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party, said April 24 that internal divisions were a key reason the party’s support had fallen to a record low of 15%, rejecting calls for him to step down. 

Speaking at a news conference at the National Assembly, Jang said talk about his future and resignation had followed the polling, noting there were 40 days left until local elections. 

Referring to survey results released the previous day, he said one poll showed the party “stuck at 15%,” adding that the result differed somewhat from recent trends in other surveys. He said he would consider the various reasons for the party’s low support. 

Jang said internal conflict was among the causes, and said he would weigh whether resigning 40 days before the elections would truly fulfill his responsibility as party leader and whether it would help the party win. 

Jang also said the party would submit a motion urging the dismissal of Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young over allegations involving the leak of sensitive information. He said if President Lee Jae-myung continued to protect Jeong, the U.S.-South Korea alliance “cannot help but face even greater cracks.” He called for Jeong’s immediate dismissal and for the government to “reorganize” what he described as a self-reliant faction within the foreign and security policy line that he said was undermining the alliance.

Jang said he met with four lawmakers the previous day with James Heller, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy, to confirm Washington’s mood, saying the United States viewed the matter “very seriously.”

He said information sharing, which he described as a measure of alliance trust, had been cut off, and argued that Jeong’s remarks had damaged the foundation of trust while Lee was accelerating its collapse.

Calling it a “tragic situation” in which the president and a minister had become a security risk, Jang said the U.S. side believed that resuming information sharing would require firm assurances and promises that such an irresponsible leak would not happen again.

He added that without restored trust, implementing a joint fact sheet would also be difficult, and said the U.S. side was repeatedly conveying the seriousness of the issue to Seoul, but that the Lee administration did not appear to recognize it. 

According to the National Barometer Survey released April 23 by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research, the People Power Party’s approval rating stood at 15%. The poll surveyed 1,005 adults age 18 and older by telephone interviews from April 20-22. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. (For details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.)