'Our role and our duty is to rally behind the special prosecutor'

Jang rebuffs claim that his campaign stops cost the party seats

Supreme council member Yang Hyang-ja calls for full leadership resignation

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok [Newsis]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok [Newsis]

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok effectively rejected calls for the party leadership to resign en masse Monday, saying the PPP must focus its energy on responding to the ballot shortage crisis.

Speaking at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, Jang rebuffed critics who had labeled the leadership "zombies." "Calling the PPP leadership 'zombies' is an insult to the citizens who have given us their support," he said. A Realmeter poll released that day, conducted on behalf of Energy Economy Newspaper, showed the PPP's approval rating at 44.3 percent, ahead of the Democratic Party's 38.0 percent.

"Our modest role — however insufficient — is to pull together so that we can see at least one special prosecutor through on this ballot issue," Jang said. "I believe that is the bare minimum of courtesy we owe to the citizens who support us, even as they set aside their disappointment for now."

He warned of the consequences of a leadership vacuum. "Can't you picture what would happen after a mass resignation — and who would fight this battle during that void?" he said. "Right now is the time to focus on the voices of citizens who gathered at Olympic Park and are demanding we act."

Turning to calls for his own resignation, Jang said he had wanted to stay silent but felt compelled to respond. Some critics had argued that the party lost in constituencies where he campaigned and won where he did not. He rebuffed that claim directly. "I honestly don't know how to explain Rep. Yun Yong-geun, who won in the Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang district that I visited three or four times," he said.

"Continuing to stay silent and give no answer would be an insult to our party members and to the public — that is why I felt I had to speak today," Jang said, in effect shrugging off the resignation demands.

The calls for a leadership overhaul came from within the council itself. Supreme council member Woo Jae-jun had already urged a mass resignation at the meeting, and fellow council member Yang Hyang-ja added her voice Monday. "Politics is ultimately about accountability, and a leader is someone who takes responsibility," Yang said. "I propose that the entire leadership resign. I believe that is the rational path that follows public sentiment."

Yang pressed the case for accountability over the election results. "I never imagined I would still be sitting in this supreme council seat after the local elections ended," she said. "Most citizens and supporters probably expected all of us in the leadership, myself included, to step down after seeing these results."

Park Jun-tae, Jang's chief of staff, met with reporters immediately after the meeting and turned the accountability argument back on Yang. "Supreme council member Yang kept her seat on the council, was selected as the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial candidate, and then ran the election," Park said. "If she feels personally responsible for the loss, she can resign herself or take responsibility in some other way." Park then criticized those continuing to push for the leadership's ouster. "At this critical juncture, while turning a blind eye to public opinion and citizens' demands, some people are focused solely on destabilizing the party leader — I suspect those individuals are acting in their own political self-interest," he said.

The Realmeter poll was conducted via automated response calls (100 percent wireless) on June 11 and 12 on behalf of Energy Economy Newspaper, surveying 1,002 eligible voters aged 18 and older nationwide. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 3.8 percent. Further details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.


thanks@heraldcorp.com