(Kim Soon-deok Column) Han Dong-hoon’s Landslide Victory is the Third Warning President Yoon Received |

Mrs. Kim appears in the People Power Party leadership primary
‘Dog’s Apple’ Political Sense Contributes to Han Dong-hoon’s Election
Now, President Yoon and his wife must acknowledge their limitations.
Establish a second annex to restore public trust

I believe that Han Dong-hoon’s landslide victory was due to the power of Ms. Kim Gun-hee. At the beginning of the People Power Party leadership primary, Ms. Kim appeared as an invisible player through a text message she sent to then-Emergency Response Committee Chairman Han Dong-hoon regarding the Dior bag apology. On the 20th, at the end of the primary, it was revealed that she had been subject to the ‘Queen’s Investigation’ by passing over the Prosecutor General, further angering many citizens in this hot summer.

If Mrs. Kim knew that the ARS vote to elect the party leader and the general public opinion poll would be held on the 21st and 22nd, and yet she went out the day before, it is a political sense that reminds me of the ‘dog apology’ during the presidential campaign. Does this country have ‘the first lady above the prosecutor’? Is the fairness and common sense that President Yoon Seok-yeol brought up during the presidential election really something to be given to dogs?

The public has already sent President Yoon two warnings. If he had been hit with the whip during the Seoul Gangseo-gu mayoral by-election last year and the April 10 general election, the president should have pretended to be sick. Rather than President Yoon changing, this time even Mrs. Kim is trying to block Han Dong-hoon from being elected as the party leader, and the party has finally turned its back on him. If they let the first lady, who is not even the president, mock the presidential office, the conservative ruling party that has protected the Republic of Korea, and even the law and the people, they felt like the country would fall to that uneasy and ominous leader.

The election of Han Dong-hoon as party leader is the third warning that President Yoon has received. The People Power Party, which used to be a party of old farts in the Gangnam and Yeongnam regions of Seoul, has also received the same public sentiment (63.46%) as the party sentiment (62.69%). This is because Han Dong-hoon is the only person in the People Power Party who can say “No” to Ms. Kim. The fact that he read and ignored (read and did not reply) to the text message sent by Ms. Kim when he was the vice chairman of the emergency committee is evidence of this. I want to believe that the fact that President Yoon, who is from the prosecution, is aware of his limitations and that the party leader, who is from the prosecution, is because, like Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, who came from the military junta, they know each other well and expect that a groundbreaking change will be possible and that the regime can be re-established.

The presidential couple was completely defeated. Now, President Yoon and Mrs. Kim must change.

Immediately after the election, Han Dong-hoon clearly stated regarding the private prosecution investigation of Mrs. Kim, “I think the public’s perspective should have been taken into consideration.” It is said that a high-ranking official in the presidential office expressed his displeasure, saying that he could not agree. It is regrettable that a person who is so far removed from public sentiment and only cares about V1 and V2 is in a high-ranking position in the presidential office. That is why President Yoon’s “rage” and Mrs. Kim’s “intervention” are consuming the nation’s energy and causing the people’s livelihoods to fall into misery.

I can’t spend 2 years and 10 months like this. In his acceptance speech as the representative, Han Dong-hoon cited the response to public sentiment as the first change ordered by the people. I hope that the establishment of the Second Subcommittee and the Special Inspectorate will be given top priority. A meeting with President Yoon would be good, a party-government consultation would be good, and even a ‘promise sparring match’ or a game of Go-Stop would be good.

It may be a minor issue in the eyes of President Yoon and Mrs. Kim, but it is not so in the eyes of the people. A president who is a former prosecutor who emphasizes the ‘rule of law’ whenever he opens his mouth cannot gain the trust of the people if he puts his wife ‘above the law’. The Second Office is not simply to assist Mrs. Kim’s schedule and work. It is an organization that clearly states that the President’s wife does not interfere with state affairs, personnel, party affairs, or interests by clarifying the line of work of the Office of the President. If the issue of Mrs. Kim is dealt with first, President Yoon’s approval rating will change, and with that power, he can succeed in reform and policy, and keep alive the hope of re-establishing the regime.

The June 29 Declaration of 1987, written by Chun Doo-hwan and directed by Roh Tae-woo, was possible because of the big heart of then-President Chun Doo-hwan who said, “Step over me and go over,” and the differentiation strategy of then-Democratic Justice Party leader Roh Tae-woo. President Yoon emphasized a single team and a community of shared destiny, but if the current incompetent presidential office and the political sense of “dog apples” demand that the People Power Party and Han Dong-hoon become a single team and share a single destiny, it will be difficult to win back public sentiment and livelihood.

Unfortunately, it is time for President Yoon to acknowledge his limitations. Perhaps Han Dong-hoon will follow Roh Tae-woo’s path. Of course, he failed to make a second June 29th Declaration during the general election. President Yoon’s heart and Han Dong-hoon’s strategy were not as good as those people at the time, and the People Power Party is not only unable to re-establish power, but is also unstable in terms of party unity. Nevertheless, for now, there is an expectation that the only person who can control President Yoon’s ‘prosecution rule’ and ‘wife politics’ and confront the leader is Han Dong-hoon, who knows the prosecution and the president well.

The smart reformist party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok said at the beginning of the year, “Because President Roh Tae-woo only sent (Chun Doo-hwan) to Baekdamsa Temple, I also later (under President Kim Young-sam) started to set history straight.” It was a warning to think of public sentiment first.

Kim Soon-deok, columnist yuri@donga.com