The Koreas | Politics | East Asia

Squabble Deepens Between People Power Party’s Current and Former Leaders

Whether Han Dong-hoon and Jang Dong-hyuk mend ties will determine the future of South Korea’s main conservative party.

Han Dong-hoon speaks at a briefing session for parents of students taking the university admission exam, July 12, 2026.

On June 3, Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the opposition People Power Party (PPP), miraculously won the parliamentary by-election to represent a northern district in Busan. A couple of days later, amid his supporters’ cheers and camera flicks, he lingered before the granite steps leading up to the National Assembly. For a second he looked relieved, but the resolute look that immediately followed indicated what a slog lay ahead for him. 

Back in January, the PPP kicked Han out over allegations that the former party leader mobilized his family to slander former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife online. But in reality, it was more because Jang Dong-hyuk, the new PPP leader and a staunch Yoon supporter, didn’t want to see Han stirring up intra-party dissent over his leadership. 

Han led the PPP from December 2023 to April 2024 and then again from July to December 2024. During his leadership, Han locked horns with Yoon and openly defied Yoon’s martial law declaration and failed self-coup in December 2024.

The PPP leadership has come to blame Han for the Yoon administration’s – and the party’s – demise. They believe that Han’s open clashes with Yoon were to blame for the rout in the April 2024 general elections that earned the liberal bloc almost a two-third parliamentary majority. In reality, had it not been for Han’s sensible critique of the Yoon administration, the PPP would have lost more parliamentary seats. 

Han critics also believe that Yoon’s impeachment motion was passed in December 2024 largely due to pro-Han legislators joining the liberal camp in voting in favor. 

Han is now testing the waters to get back into the PPP. The prevailing mood within the party is one of awed recognition of his election victory. He competed against strong candidates from the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the PPP. Given how the right-wing votes were split between Han and the PPP, his win was quite an achievement. One PPP legislator said Han was like “a star” with “power of absorption.”

Han began his courting, too, joining forums and sub-groups headed by the PPP grandees. Some PPP big shots not chummy with Han even co-signed Han’s amendment bill. Although they may have had an ulterior motive of embracing Han to siphon pro-Han votes in future elections, this could provide a secure foothold for Han to enter the PPP again. 

Not surprisingly, though, Jang is all frowns. “I’m sure that admitting Han into the PPP will be of no help in terms of the party expansion, solidarity and consolidation,” Jang said categorically on July 21. 

There have been some voices within the party calling for Jang to resign to take responsibility for the dismal June local elections results. Instead, Jang has come under flak for keeping his ears shut against criticism and staging solo activities outside the parliament. 

Of late, he has been frequenting – by himself – Seoul Olympic Park, where hundreds of demonstrators are demanding justice and accountability for how the Election Commission fielded fewer ballots than the number of registered voters. During the June local elections, as a result, dozens of constituents were turned away at some polling stations, having been denied the right to vote. 

This is an egregious institutional wrong and failure, and the PPP’s official stance is to file election petitions for investigation and partial re-election in the areas where the voters couldn’t exercise their democratic right. However, Jang is insisting on a complete re-run of the June local elections. This is not only infeasible but also represents Jang’s pandering to the far-right election fraud conspiracy that deems every election to have been rigged.

But Jang is stubborn. “He always says ‘I am right,’ ‘I am isolated’ and ‘I am aggrieved,’” said one PPP legislator, describing Jang’s refusal to listen to others. “Acting alone doesn’t mean leadership. A leader should be moving all 110 PPP legislators together,” said another PPP lawmaker. 

Cho Gab-je, perhaps the most respected conservative commentator and former head of the monthly magazine of Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest conservative daily, chipped in in favor of Han. “Han is better than all the 110 PPP legislators combined,” he said. “Han’s diction and prose are armed with the constitution, facts and common sense,” Cho........

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