"The Democratic Party Is Strange" In Guk Gong, Park Won Soon, and Real Estate Face Consecutive Criticisms

In-Guk-Gong, Late Mayor Park Won-soon's Sexual Assault Allegations and Real Estate Policies Under Scrutiny
Moon's Approval Rating Rises to 46% After 10 Weeks... 'Seoul Negative Evaluation' Hits 56% Peak
United Future Party Overtakes Democratic Party in Seoul After 43 Weeks
Choi Jang-jip: "Radical Supporters of Activist and Ruling Parties Cause Democracy Crisis"
Jin Joong-kwon: "Democratic Party's Message Management Failure" Criticizes Radical Supporters

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (right), is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] "I think the Democratic Party is misreading public sentiment."

On the 31st, a survey on party support in the Seoul area showed that the United Future Party surpassed the Democratic Party of Korea for the first time in 43 weeks. This appears to be influenced by the government's real estate policies, the death and sexual harassment allegations of the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, and the controversy over the regularization of irregular workers at Incheon International Airport.

Outside the political sphere, there is criticism suggesting that the Democratic Party, relying heavily on its ardent supporters, has ultimately become trapped within a 'supporters' wall.' It is pointed out that the Democratic Party, dependent on the pro-Moon (친문) faction, is ignoring the opinions of the entire nation.

Some Democratic Party supporters have expressed disappointment with the party's recent actions. Some have seriously criticized the party as "not the Democratic Party of the past." This is interpreted as a sign that if the current behavior continues, they may effectively withdraw their support.

A job-seeking person in their 20s, Mr. A, said about the party's recent declining approval ratings, "During the controversy over the regularization of irregular workers at Incheon International Airport, many young people including myself were deeply hurt," adding, "We talk about unfairness, but they keep talking about salaries and 'fake news,' which is completely unrelated, so I was really angry."

Meanwhile, Mr. B, a worker in his 40s, said, "I'm not a party member, but I've supported the Democratic Party since my 20s. At that time, the policies and actions of the Democratic Party were similar to those of the Justice Party today. Their work was to find the most vulnerable people and guarantee their human rights." He continued, "But looking at the Democratic Party now, I want to ask what is different from the United Future Party. Is it just because they held many candlelight vigils?" he strongly criticized.

Members of the Incheon International Airport Corporation Labor Union held placards while announcing their stance on the regularization of non-regular security screening personnel at a press conference near the Blue House in Seoul on the afternoon of June 25. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The anger of young people erupted during the process of regularizing irregular workers at Incheon International Airport (In-guk-gong). Before that, there was the scandal involving former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was prosecuted on charges including his children's school admission irregularities. The common point of anger among young people in their 20s and 30s is 'unfairness.' They raise their voices against unfair phenomena, but their main claim is that they are not being heard.

The anger of young people also led to rallies. On the evening of the 1st, a 'Cultural Rally to Urge Transparent and Fair Regularization' was held around Cheonggyecheon-ro in front of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in Jung-gu, Seoul. The young participants raised their voices, saying, "The unilateral announcement of regularization ignoring everyone's agreement plunged society into chaos, and the public was outraged."

Earlier, in June, Incheon International Airport announced the direct employment of 1,902 irregular security screening workers from partner companies as security guards. There was backlash from the airport union and job seekers, arguing that the benefits received by those who are effectively 100% directly employed were excessive.

The rally participants shouted slogans such as "Equal opportunity, fair process, just outcome." These slogans were presented by President Moon Jae-in in his inauguration speech on May 10, 2017.

Meanwhile, a poll released on the 3rd showed that President Moon Jae-in's approval rating stopped declining after 10 weeks and slightly rebounded to 46.4%. This is the first increase in positive evaluation in 10 weeks since the third week of May (62.3%, up 0.6 percentage points).

Negative evaluations have outpaced positive evaluations for three consecutive weeks. However, negative evaluations in the Seoul area were the highest nationwide at 56.0%. According to a survey conducted by Realmeter from the 27th to 31st of last month targeting 2,516 voters nationwide, the positive evaluation of President Moon's performance rose 2.0 percentage points from the previous week to 46.4%.

Positive evaluations increased in Daegu-Gyeongbuk (up 8.4 percentage points), Gyeonggi-Incheon (up 4.6 percentage points), among women (up 4.3 percentage points), people in their 20s (up 6.9 percentage points), and students (up 9.0 percentage points).

Negative evaluations increased in Seoul (up 1.0 percentage point) and among office workers (up 1.2 percentage points). Especially in Seoul, where many ruling party votes were cast in the April 15 general election, negative evaluations were 56.0%, positive evaluations 39.8%, showing the highest negative evaluation among all regions nationwide.

The negative evaluation in Seoul was 0.2 percentage points higher than that in Daegu-Gyeongbuk (55.8%).

President Moon Jae-in is responding to questions from panelists during the "The People Ask, 2019 Dialogue with the People" held at MBC in Sangam-dong, Seoul, on the afternoon of November 19 last year. [Image source=Yonhap News]

It was not only the Incheon International Airport incident that put the Democratic Party in a difficult position. When sexual violence allegations against the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon surfaced, pro-government figures committed what amounted to 'secondary victimization' of the victim, saying things like "manipulation of symbols such as underwear in the bedroom" and "defaming the deceased by assuming Park as the perpetrator."

Recently, the harshest criticism toward the Democratic Party has been about real estate policies. Even among Democratic Party supporters, criticism has emerged regarding the recently passed 'Lease 2 Laws' (rent ceiling system and contract renewal request system).

Even in pro-Moon online communities such as mom cafes, posts saying "This government's real estate policy is a failure" have appeared.

On the 1st, a post titled "Jeonse prices continue to rise due to the Lease 3 Laws" was uploaded on the Naver mom cafe 'Moms Holic.' Comments criticizing the Moon administration's real estate policies, such as "All the measures the government introduced to curb housing prices ultimately just raise taxes" and "Real estate policy is a failure," were posted.

Adding fuel to the angry public sentiment was Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Jun-byeong's remark that "monthly rent is not bad." On the 1st, Yoon posted on his Facebook, "The claim that the conversion from jeonse (long-term deposit lease) to monthly rent is a bad phenomenon and that extending the lease period from 2 years to an additional 2 years will lead to this conversion, as stated by a United Future Party lawmaker's 5-minute speech, is being praised on the internet. However, the conversion from jeonse to monthly rent is not a bad phenomenon."

In response, United Future Party deputy spokesperson Hwang Gyu-hwan criticized, "Seeing him talk about 'consciousness level' while he himself owns multiple houses reminds me of Marie Antoinette saying, 'If there is no bread, let them eat cake.'"

He added, "Among those who have no choice but to live in jeonse by borrowing money, how many ordinary people can afford monthly rent every month?" criticizing that the failed real estate policy ruined the jeonse market and is now being packaged as preparing for a shift to monthly rent.

On the 1st, members of real estate-related organizations such as the 617 Regulation Retroactive Application Victims' Association and the Lease Business Association Approval Committee held a rally in Yeouido, Seoul, protesting the government's real estate regulations and shouting slogans opposing the Three Lease Laws.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, United Future Party lawmaker Yoon Hee-sook said in a National Assembly plenary session speech on the 30th of last month, "I am a tenant. I moved in May, and since the moment I moved, I have been worried about what to do if the landlord tells me to leave after 2 years. Did I feel good about the bill passed today? No, I did not."

Yoon said, "Do I oppose protecting tenants? Absolutely not, I support it." She pointed out, "Many people prefer jeonse. When making laws that affect the lives of 10 million people, we must at least check what problems we have not thought of."

Amid rising criticism over the Incheon International Airport incident, secondary victimization of Park Won-soon's sexual violence victim, and real estate policies, a survey on the 31st showed that the United Future Party surpassed the Democratic Party of Korea in party support in the Seoul area for the first time in 43 weeks.

According to a survey conducted by Realmeter commissioned by tbs from the 27th to 29th targeting 1,511 men and women aged 18 and over nationwide (95% confidence level, sampling error ±2.5 percentage points, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website), the United Future Party's support in Seoul was 40.8%, 9.4 percentage points ahead of the Democratic Party's 31.4%.

This is the first time in 43 weeks since the second week of October last year, when the predecessor of the United Future Party, the Liberty Korea Party, recorded 33.8%, narrowly ahead of the Democratic Party's 32.5%. From the third week of October, the Democratic Party regained the lead with 40.0% against the United Future Party's 35.7%, and the Democratic Party's lead continued thereafter.

On the afternoon of the 25th of last month, participants of the "Candlelight Rally Against the Overuse of Retroactive Real Estate Regulation Policies, Nationwide Tax Resistance Movement" shouted slogans in front of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

There is also an analysis that the recent decline in approval ratings surrounding the Democratic Party and negative evaluations in Seoul stem from the party's own supporters.

Choi Jang-jip, an emeritus professor of political science and diplomacy at Korea University, wrote in a paper titled "Rethinking Korean Democracy" published in late June in the Seoul National University Korean Politics Research Institute's journal 'Korean Politics Research,' "After the candlelight protests, the emergence of the Moon Jae-in government was expected to be a turning point marking a new stage in Korean democracy, but now Korean democracy is in crisis," adding, "This crisis stems from the political failure of the elite group of the student activist generation and the so-called 'ppa' faction allied with them." He pointed to the current ruling mainstream faction and the ardent supporters known as 'Moonppa' as the causes of the crisis in Korean democracy.

He analyzed, "The phenomenon of 'ppa,' who passionately follow a specific politician, is a political movement centered on strong cohesion and aggressiveness," explaining, "A virtually organized majority leads public opinion through internet social media, attacking dissenting opinions and criticism, effectively restricting freedom of the press."

Professor Choi further stated, "They have more influence than party leaders and mobilize groups during candidate selection and election processes, exerting influence," and "As a result, they play a negative role in party politics and election processes."

Professor Choi also criticized the moral hypocrisy of the activist faction. He said, "Even if progressive politicians advocating reform claim to be moral reformers themselves, in reality, they do not even come close to the high moral standards and norms they set," adding, "The student activist generation, which emerged as a new political class, has become not the solution but the problem itself."

Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon posted on his Facebook on the 2nd, "Chairman (Lee Hae-chan), stay strong. You have Moonppa, right? You say there is no middle ground. So just keep trusting the hardcore Moon supporters and go on. The Democratic Party keeps failing in message management, right? Starting from the party leader's abusive language, lawmakers keep making outrageous and mistaken remarks. That's all the effect of Moonppa. Keep going like that. They are trapped in the matrix they programmed themselves," strongly criticizing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.