‘Handonghun Fandom’ Tripled Compared to Before the General Election... Possibility of Early Debut?

Korea has never announced intention to run for party convention
but public activities include meeting citizens at library over weekend

As the party convention to elect the leadership of the People Power Party approaches, political attention is focused on whether former Emergency Response Committee member Han Dong-hoon will run for party leader. This comes amid analyses that Han, who stepped down after the April 10 general election defeat, has been increasing his external activities recently, thereby raising his presence.

Former Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, who took responsibility for the crushing defeat in the April 10 general election and went into seclusion, was spotted on the 11th at Yangjae Library in Seocho-gu, Seoul. A netizen took a photo and uploaded it to an online community.
[Photo by Online Community DC Inside Capture]

On the 13th, former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won appeared on BBS Radio’s ‘Jeon Young-shin’s Morning Journal’ and said, “Former Committee member Han is keenly watching for an opportunity to return as party leader.” Park added, “If the current party constitution and regulations are followed with 100% party member voting, Han will become party leader, but if the vote is split 50% by the public and 50% by party members, Representative Yoo Seung-min will win.” He further commented, “Either way, both Han and Yoo are at odds with President Yoon Seok-yeol, so it will be very interesting.”

After the April 10 general election defeat, Han, who had gone into seclusion for about a month, has recently resumed face-to-face contact with ruling party figures, sparking speculation about his candidacy for the party convention. On the weekend of the 11th, he was spotted reading a book at Yangjae Library in Seocho-gu, Seoul, wearing bone conduction earphones, which became a topic of interest. The clothing and shoes he wore also attracted attention, leading to a surge in sales, creating a so-called ‘Han Dong-hoon fandom’ atmosphere.

In fact, before the general election, the Naver fan cafe ‘With Hoon’ had only about 18,000 members, but after the election, it grew more than threefold to about 58,000 members. ‘With Hoon’ has also been encouraging party membership in preparation for Han’s possible run for party leader. According to the People Power Party’s constitution and regulations, one must pay party dues for more than three months to become a responsible party member and gain voting rights in the party convention election.

However, Han has not yet clearly stated whether he will challenge for party leader. Within the ruling party, as Han’s presence is increasingly highlighted daily, there is growing scrutiny from leading party leadership candidates. Some argue that if Han appears at the forefront, he will face strong criticism again over responsibility for the general election defeat. On the 9th, Representative Ahn Cheol-soo said in an interview on Channel A’s ‘Political Signal’ regarding Han’s possible candidacy, “It is entirely his own decision,” but added, “The proper protocol is to step back to a secondary position and take time for self-reflection and restraint after an election defeat.”

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