Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, speaks during the party’s Supreme Council meeting at its headquarters in Seoul on Monday. Yonhap
Han and Lee to meet on Sunday, but tangible result unlikely
By Kwak Yeon-soo
The leaders of Korea’s two largest parties, ruling People Power Party (PPP) Chairman Han Dong-hoon and main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Lee Jae-myung, will vie for centrist voters to strengthen their respective political blocs.
Han and Lee are currently the leading potential presidential candidates from the conservative and liberal blocs, respectively. Their showdown will see them employ strategies aimed not only at mobilizing their party’s strong voter base but also attracting voters from the middle as they will seek to showcase their ambitious visions and gain an edge over each other, political analysts say.
Han, who served as interim chairman of the PPP in the April 10 general election and resigned after the party’s crushing defeat, was re-elected as chairman at a national party congress in July. The former KDP chief, who resigned from his post in June to seek a second term, successfully regained the chairmanship at the main opposition party’s congress on Sunday.
“From now on, the leaders of the rival parties must develop a strategy to court moderate voters and prepare for the 2026 local elections and the 2027 presidential election. They cannot win these elections if they lose centrist voters,” said political commentator Park Sang-byeong.
“The PPP needs to manage President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval ratings, while the KDP needs to face legal challenges from Lee. If the PPP remains mired in ideological debates, it risks suffering even worse results than its last election defeat.”
Yoon’s approval ratings fell to 30.7 percent, a drop of 2.9 percentage points from the previous week, according to a survey by pollster Realmeter released on Monday. The negative assessment of Yoon’s performance was attributed to his appointment of Kim Hyoung-suk as the new director of Korea’s Independence Hall and his handling of ideological debates.
Lee has been charged with multiple counts, including bribery and dereliction of duty. These charges include allegedly providing illegal favors to private developers for a land development project in Daejang-dong, a district in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, during his tenure as the city’s mayor. Other allegations include spreading false information during the 2021 presidential election campaign and involvement in transferring illegal funds to North Korea.
Rep. Lee Jae-myung (left), chairman of Korea’s main opposition KDP, speaks with party leader Park Chan-dae during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday. Yonhap
Shin Yul, a professor of political science at Myongji University, said both Han and Lee need to broaden their voter base and include moderate voters as well, as both the PPP and the KDP remain equally unpopular in Korea.
“Both parties need to work on changing their image. As long as Lee can deal with the changing public mood and get his legal problems under control, he can use his strong voter base and the KDP majority to pressure the PPP to make concessions,” Shin said.
On Monday, the parties announced that Han and Lee would meet the following Sunday. Lee had proposed the bilateral talks immediately after his election victory the previous day.
“I look forward to an open and honest discussion of various agenda items,” Han said during a Supreme Council meeting.
The KDP said the two sides would hold preliminary working talks to agree on the agenda for the upcoming meeting.
Both leaders stressed that they would focus on improving people’s living conditions, but pointed out that many of the relevant bills have been stuck in the National Assembly for months due to cross-party disagreements on other contentious issues.
However, analysts expressed skepticism about the likelihood of a meaningful outcome.
“I think cooperative politics is almost impossible. Their meeting will probably be more about photo opportunities than about achieving tangible results. I don’t expect any concrete agreements as their goals for the meeting are very different,” Park said.
“Lee’s supporters are supporting him to challenge the Yoon government, not to work with it. I believe Lee is trying to reach out to Yoon and Han primarily for his own benefit, perhaps to avoid legal consequences. On the other hand, Han is unlikely to push his agenda as opposition from the presidential office is strong.”
Shin predicted that the KDP chief might be open to cooperation on issues such as inheritance tax reform and the abolition of capital gains tax. But he acknowledged that the chances of a fruitful outcome were slim because the rival parties have different views on contentious issues, including a cash gift law and a pro-labor bill, both of which the president vetoed.
While Lee also proposed bilateral talks with Yoon, the presidential office stressed that the normalization of the National Assembly must precede any one-on-one meeting with the opposition leader. Analysts suspect Yoon may consider meeting with Lee after the opposition leader’s first court ruling for violating the election law was announced in October.
