WNAM REPORT: The ruling People Power Party (PPP) elected Han Dong-hoon as its new leader, Tuesday, giving him a mandate to reform the party in the wake of its stinging defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections and to resolve internal conflicts leading up to the national convention.
The party convention, which took place at KINTEX convention hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, comes three months after Han resigned from his post as interim leader, taking responsibility for the election defeat.
Han won 62.84 percent of the votes, the PPP’s election committee said, an outcome that was widely expected as he led opinion polls for the party’s leadership role. As Han won a majority of votes, a runoff between the top two candidates became unnecessary.
Han’s opponents — former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong received 18.85 percent of the votes; five-term lawmakers Rep. Na Kyung-won and Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun secured 14.58 percent and 3.73 percent of the ballots, respectively.
The PPP conducted a four-day vote from Friday to Monday, during which 408,272 out of 841,614 paying party members cast their ballots through either mobile or voice-based voting, resulting in a voter turnout of 48.51 percent.
In June, the PPP revised its rules to include public opinion polls in the election. It assigned a weight of 20 percent to public opinion poll results and 80 percent to ballots cast by party members. This change was part of the party’s efforts to better reflect public sentiment after its crushing defeat in April.
“Change begins today. As we look toward the future and the challenges that lie ahead, we must come together and bring change together. I will do my best to unite the party and ride the wave of public sentiment,” Han said in his acceptance speech.
He also thanked his contenders Won, Na and Yoon.
“They are all invaluable assets of our party. We shall unite and spare no efforts to improve the people’s livelihood.”
Declaring his bid last month, Han shared his goal to establish a more equal relationship between the party and the government. He noted that, until now, the party has been unable to offer even reasonable criticisms of the government’s policies or political decisions.
President Yoon Suk Yeol attended the national convention and delivered a speech before the party.
“We are bound together by a shared destiny. We are on the same boat. The government and the PPP must unite to tackle the difficulties affecting people’s livelihoods and strive to improve their quality of life. Then we will be able to gain more public support,” Yoon said.
Han faces tough challenges, both inside and outside the party, as he takes over for a two-year term.
He is tasked with shoring up the demoralized party in the wake of its crushing defeat on April 10 parliamentary elections as well as smoothing out heightened tensions with his opponents in the leadership race.
The leadership race was marked by negative tactics, with candidates opting for personal slander and attacks rather than engaging in meaningful discussions about the future of the party.
Another major mission for Han is resolving the ruling party’s standoff with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and gaining political leverage in the National Assembly. The DPK holds 175 seats in the 300-member Assembly and has been leveraging its majority to push through contentious bills, including a special probe into First Lady Kim Keon-hee and Han himself.
The new chairman will find it difficult to ignore the influence of the presidential office.
Han, a former justice minister once known as a close ally of Yoon, had clashed with the president over politically sensitive issues in the run-up to the elections, including how to handle allegations that the first lady received a luxury bag as a gift in 2022. Tensions with Yoon resurfaced this month over allegations that Han ignored Telegram messages from the first lady earlier this year.
Speaking to reporters after the national convention, Han pledged to pursue bipartisan efforts on a range of issues.
Commenting on the prosecution’s controversial questioning of the first lady, Han said, “Prosecutors should have considered public sentiment when deciding on their methods for questioning the first lady. I believe they should reach a fair and timely conclusion.”
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, responsible for the investigation, questioned Kim in person over the weekend at a government building instead of the prosecutor’s office, triggering criticism that she received preferential treatment.
