2024-01-23 04:02:00
President Yoon Seok-yeol is shaking hands with People Power Party Emergency Response Committee Chairman Han Dong-hoon at the 2024 New Year’s greetings held at the Blue House guesthouse. 2024.1.3 Provided by Presidential Office
Attention is focused on why Han Dong-hoon, Chairman of the People Power Party’s Emergency Response Committee, collided head-on with President Yoon Seok-yeol, with whom he had been in a relationship for 20 years, less than a month following entering politics.
In the political world, there is an interpretation that the philosophies of ‘prosecutor Han Dong-hoon’ and ‘politician Han Dong-hoon’ are bound to differ. There are observations that he has taken a forward-looking stance for the long-term goal of winning the general election and becoming president.
According to the political world on the 23rd, opinions are divided as to the reason for the political friction between Chairman Han and President Yoon.
There are many analyzes that the conflict began with the convictions of ‘politician Han Dong-hoon’, not the prosecutor. Chairman Han took office last year, taking over the issues of vertical party-government relations that had been continuously raised under the leadership of Kim Ki-hyun, when the People Power Party suffered a crushing defeat in the by-election in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.
Since his inauguration, Chairman Han has consistently received requests from both inside and outside the party to present a clear position on the Kim Kun-hee risk and the vertical party-government relationship issue, and there are speculations that Chairman Han may have also begun to change his perception of the issue as a representative of the ruling party rather than as the Minister of Justice.
In his acceptance speech as chairman of the Emergency Committee on the 26th of last month, Chairman Han said, “Let us calmly reflect together on why the People Power Party cannot overwhelm even though the opposing party leader is tried for serious crimes three to four times a week.” He added, “Let’s start politics today.” As I do so, I will practice being the chosen heir from the beginning. “I decided to be courageous,” he emphasized.
The situation where the approval rating of Chairman Han, who marks his one month inauguration this week, does not lead to the approval rating of President Yoon’s administration is also mentioned as a background for re-recognizing the problem and considering a breakthrough.
In a survey on future leader preferences conducted by Gallup Korea on the 9th to 11th among 1,002 people aged 18 or older nationwide, the approval rating for Chairman Han was recorded at 22%, up 6 percentage points from last month’s survey. This is the highest since it first appeared with a preference of 4% in June of last year and has steadily risen since then.
On the other hand, following Chairman Han’s inauguration, the president’s approval rating remained in the 30% range and criticism of the regime remained above 50%, raising concerns that a red flag would turn on for Chairman Han’s victory in the general election and his next presidential move.
In particular, while enjoying the convention effect of increasing favorability of the People Power Party following Chairman Han took office, the problem of vertical party-government relations was resolved as approval ratings fell following the decision to suggest to President Yoon the veto of the Special Prosecution Act over suspicions of Daejangdong and first lady Kim Kun-hee’s stock price manipulation. It is analyzed that the need to do so has increased.
People Power Party lawmaker Lee Yong-ho said in an interview with MBC Radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus’ on the same day, “In the background of Chairman Han Dong-hoon’s appearance, there were problems such as the re-establishment of the relationship between the party and the President’s Office. As a result, (Chairman Han) “I think we might have been more conscious of it, and as a result, I think it was a factor that distanced us further from the President’s Office.”
President Yoon and Chairman Han served as prosecutors of the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office and Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office in 2003 on the presidential election fund investigation team of the five major groups of the former Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. Since then, they have known each other for 20 years, serving as members of the investigation team for the Choi Soon-sil government corruption case in 2016, at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in 2017, and as the President and Minister of Justice in 2022.
There are speculations in the ruling party that the two sides will attempt to resolve the conflict, as there is great concern that the appearance of a direct conflict between the president and the ruling party leader with regarding two months left before the general election will add to confusion in the election process, including nominations.
The survey cited in the article was conducted through telephone interviews with investigators through random sampling of wireless phone virtual numbers provided by the three mobile communication companies. The sampling error is ±3.1%p at the 95% confidence level. The response rate was 14.3%. For more information, please refer to the National Election Opinion Survey Deliberation Committee website.
(Seoul = News 1)
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