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People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok fired back at President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday after Lee posted on social media about "the ruling party's responsibilities," calling on the president to abandon his bid to have his criminal trial dismissed and to change his own conduct first.
Jang wrote on his own social media account that Lee had posted about "the ruling party's responsibilities" and that every word of it was correct. "There is not a single line to throw away," he said. "I mean that sincerely — I am not being sarcastic."
But Jang quickly turned the message back on the president. "The problem is how someone who knows all this so well has actually behaved until now," he said. "Out of that long post, is there even one thing he himself has kept?"
He said Lee's talk of passion for the public good over personal interest rang hollow from someone who had "spent an entire year dismantling the national judicial system just to stay out of prison." He also questioned Lee's claim to unlimited accountability, asking whether creating "a triple-high hell, a real estate hell and a jobs hell — and then doing nothing but talking about the stock market" amounted to taking responsibility.
"Does he want the ruling party to change? Then he must change himself first," Jang said. "The president and the ruling party are one body. No matter how much he talks about the ruling party's responsibilities while abandoning his own, nothing will change."
Jang also referenced the suspension of Lee's trial over allegations of illicit fund transfers to North Korea — a case that arose when Lee was leader of the Democratic Party of Korea — after prosecutors withdrew the charges in June 2024.
"Start by cleanly giving up on the 'trial cancellation,'" he said. "The time the ruling party can devote to people's livelihoods will increase tenfold." He called for a full reset of national policy — economic policy, real estate policy, labor policy, jobs policy, welfare policy, North Korea policy and foreign affairs and security policy — and said the government should put all of it back on the table and listen to the public.
Jang said it was President Lee himself who had lost his sense of balance. "I hope he starts by listening to the voices of young people and citizens calling for a by-election right now," he said. "That is the president's 'responsibility' and the first step toward 'inclusion' and 'openness' for everyone."
He closed by reiterating his assessment of Lee's post. "I'll say it again — it really is a fine piece of writing," he said. "If he just puts it into practice as written, he will be a good president and this will be a good ruling party."
The remarks came amid intensifying internal conflict within the People Power Party over Jang's own future as leader, following the party's defeat in the June 3 local elections. That dispute is expected to reach a turning point this week.
ygmoon@heraldcorp.com
