[Initial Perspective] What About Kim Jong-in's Party? And Yoon Seok-yeol

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] "I don't trust it. Are the People Power Party and its leader separate?"

This is a kind of complaint often expressed by ruling party officials. They say that the words of Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, do not align with the party's actions.

Known as the 'Mr. Economic Democratization,' he inevitably has a positive stance toward the government's and ruling party's 'Economic Three Laws (Commercial Act, Fair Trade Act, and Financial Group Integrated Supervision Act).' Some of the provisions were directly proposed by Chairman Kim in the past. Among the Democratic Party's bills, some are reintroductions of Kim's previous proposals. However, within the People Power Party, there are many opinions that the bills should be carefully reviewed considering the economic conditions and concerns about attacks from overseas speculative capital. Given the difficulty of openly opposing the party leader, there is actually a strong critical current from the 'orthodox conservative' standpoint.

One of the hottest issues that Chairman Kim stirred this year was basic income. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, it was highly volatile and sparked various discourses. However, aside from raising the topic, there was little active discussion within the party. Regarding labor issues, although Chairman Kim made megaton-level remarks on solutions to irregular workers' problems such as equal pay for equal work and the transition from company-based to industry-based unions, the party's follow-up actions are still not visible. Despite Chairman Kim kneeling and tearfully apologizing before the spirits of the May 18 victims, there are voices within the party opposing the so-called May 18 Historical Distortion Punishment Bill.

Korean political parties have often turned to Chairman Kim in times of crisis. Although he has mainly been part of the conservative camp, his reformist image symbolized by 'economic democratization' has been useful. It can be effective in expanding to the centrist voters who are not clearly left or right, showing a renewed image of the party.

Looking back at his political career: he participated in the National Security Emergency Planning Committee (Gukbowi) under the new military regime and served twice as a member of the National Assembly for the Democratic Justice Party during the Chun Doo-hwan administration. He served as Minister of Health and Social Affairs and Chief Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs under the Roh Tae-woo government, and in 1992, he became a member of the National Assembly again as a member of the Democratic Liberal Party.

In 2004, he was recruited by the Millennium Democratic Party and served as a 17th National Assembly member. From 2011 to 2012, he was with the Grand National Party and Saenuri Party, playing a midwife role in the election of former President Park Geun-hye. In 2016, he returned to the Democratic Party, and ahead of this year's general election, he made a comeback to the People Power Party.

He is also said to be an unprecedented 'five-term proportional representative.' His political trajectory is truly rare. What made this possible was that, although a politician, he was mostly regarded as someone who maintained scholarly convictions. But are those convictions now blending into the People Power Party and appealing to the public? The People Power Party's recruitment of Chairman Kim was a sign of willingness to change. Has the People Power Party changed?

The fact that Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl receives high support as a next presidential candidate in opinion polls is worth pondering. His support is much higher than that of the People Power Party's presidential candidates or the party's approval ratings. This can be read as evidence that the People Power Party has not established itself as an alternative power to the current administration. Chairman Kim's term lasts until the by-election on April 7 next year. If the public judges that the party merely built a temporary structure to recover from the shock of election defeat and eventually returned to its original state, his standing will become even narrower. Time is running out.

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