People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok delivers opening remarks at a forum evaluating the Lee Jae Myung government's second year, held at the National Assembly on Thursday. At left is PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik. [Yonhap]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok delivers opening remarks at a forum evaluating the Lee Jae Myung government's second year, held at the National Assembly on Thursday. At left is PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik. [Yonhap]

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said Thursday that under President Lee Jae Myung, "livelihoods have collapsed and the economy has been wrecked in just one year — public safety is deteriorating and national security is on the verge of collapse."

The PPP's policy committee and the Yeouido Institute co-hosted the forum at the National Assembly under the theme "Working and Middle Classes on the Brink, a Shaken Republic of Korea," billed as a comprehensive assessment of the Lee government's second year in office.

At the event, Jang cited a poll by "Yeollon Josa Kkot," a polling outlet run by broadcaster Kim Eou-joon, known for his pro-government leanings, saying that even that survey showed President Lee's approval rating had "plummeted to 40.9 percent." He argued that "the public has moved beyond worry to outright anger over whether the country can really be left in his hands for four more years."

Jang also criticized what he described as erratic market conditions under the current administration. "Share prices surged right up until the local elections, then crashed the moment they ended — then climbed again when the Democratic Party primary began, only to plunge the instant it was over," he said. He added that high inflation, a weak won and elevated interest rates had become "the new normal," leaving small-business owners and the self-employed struggling to survive.

He further charged that the government's "anti-business, pro-union policies" had brought about a "jobs cliff," and that the so-called Yellow Envelope Act had turned industrial workplaces into scenes of "endless conflict and confusion." On security, he warned that North Korea was advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities and extending tactical roads to the MDL, while South Korea was "disarming itself" by hastily pushing through a plan to consolidate its military academies.

Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik, also attending the forum, said that "livelihoods pushed to the brink and an economy and security framework shaken to their roots are the sum total of what the Lee Jae Myung government has produced over the past two years." He said excessive regulation and reckless tax policy had turned the stock market from a sound investment venue into "a gambling den," and that the youth employment rate had "fallen to around 44 percent."

Jeong added that real estate measures had become "a bomb threatening ordinary people's lives," with home prices in the Greater Seoul area soaring while regional markets groaned under unsold units. He also accused the government of calling inflation caused by loose monetary policy "the cost of success," displaying what he called a "complacent and irresponsible" attitude.

On foreign and security policy, Jeong said the government's North Korea policy — pulled along by Pyongyang's "two-state theory" — was sowing confusion over the constitutional principle of reunification. He added that at a time when the South Korea-US alliance needed to be stronger than ever, the government was instead creating cracks in trust between the two countries.

Newly appointed PPP policy committee chairwoman Lim Yi-ja said the party would "not stop at diagnosing every failure of the Lee Jae Myung administration, but show its resolve to restore the collapsed state policies."


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