Defection casts light on rift within ruling party ahead of election

Lee Nak-yon, left, the former prime minister who unsuccessfully ran in the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's primaries to select its presidential candidate last year, shakes hands with the DPK's presidential candidate, Lee Jae-myung, during a speech in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, Feb. 18. Yonhap

Defection of former No. 2 man in PM's office reveals persisting factional feud between supporters of Moon and DPK candidate

By Nam Hyun-woo

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is wary of the possible fallout of the "defection" of the former No. 2 man in the Prime Minister's Office in favor of the conservative People Power Party's (PPP) presidential candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, leading up to the March 9 election.

The DPK's furious reaction came a day after Jeong Woon-hyeon, the former chief of staff to ex-Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, wrote on Facebook on Monday that he is rooting for Yoon.

"I am now taking another path, and will help PPP candidate Yoon Suk-yeol," Jeong wrote. "You can wait until an unripe fruit becomes ripe and eat it, but you cannot eat a rotten apple. I decided to go for a plant as president rather than an unpredictable monster."

It remains unclear what he meant with the metaphor, "plant," when he referred to Yoon. But he made it clear that his decision to endorse Yoon as Korea's next president is "a choice he thinks is worse than the worst." His remarks are interpreted to mean that he chose to publicly support Yoon not because the PPP candidate is perfect but because he thinks the conservative candidate is better than Lee, the standard bearer of the liberal camp.

Jeong Woon-hyeon, the former chief of staff for ex-Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, left, poses with main opposition People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol in this photo posted on his Facebook page, Feb. 21. Captured from Jeong's Facebook page

Jeong's posting came as a shock to the DPK because the former journalist who worked with left-wing news outlet OhmyNews, helped former Prime Minister Lee's campaign as his public relations chief during the party's primary. The former prime minister reportedly called Jeong several times to urge him to reconsider his move in favor of the PPP candidate, a request he didn't heed.

Following Jeong's departure, the DPK now fears a repeat of its factional infighting during the primary.

During the DPK primary last year to select its presidential candidate, former Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee and former Prime Minister Lee were in a heated competition, and the two sides exchanged barbs revealing scandals that allegedly involved their rivals. Their competition was widely viewed as a proxy war between President Moon Jae-in ― as the former prime minister was depicted as a successor to Moon ― and the strong-willed governor who tried anything to get elected.

Early voting kicks off for Korean nationals overseas

2022-02-23 16:57

Overseas voting kicks off in presidential election

2022-02-23 09:42

Presidential candidates less interested in chaebol reform than past

2022-02-23 09:04 | Economy

Rival candidates seek different strategies to mend ties with Japan

2022-02-22 16:55 | Politics

Candidate Lee has been widely viewed as being among the anti-Moon faction in the party, due to his fierce battle with Moon during the DPK's 2017 primaries to select its presidential candidate.

After the former governor won more than 50 percent of the votes in polls in the primary last year and became the party's candidate to run in the March 9 presidential election, the ex-prime minister initially refused to concede. The two Lees were mired in a feud as the supporters of the former prime minister filed for an injunction to nullify the primary results at the Seoul Southern District Court, Oct. 14.

Since then, the former prime minister had refrained from making public appearances, until he joined candidate Lee's camp in December. The ex-prime minister is now helping candidate Lee's presidential bid as one of his campaign chiefs. Despite this role, the feud between the supporters of DPK candidate Lee and President Moon has remained unsettled. Candidate Lee's hostile descriptions of Moon during the 2017 primaries infuriated his supporters, including DPK lawmakers close to Moon.

On Feb. 18, the former prime minister was making a public speech in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, but staff at the event interrupted him in the middle of his speech by playing a campaign song as candidate Lee entered the venue.

A video clip of this scene went viral among the ex-prime minister's supporters who responded aggressively, claiming it was an insult.

"The scene showed the pro-Moon faction's reality," said an official with the DPK's faction loyal to the president.

Fueling the factional fighting within the DPK was liberal journalist Kim Ou-joon, who claimed on his YouTube channel that more than 100,000 members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus had voted for the former prime minister during the third round of the primary with candidate Lee.

Shincheonji is a Christian religious movement, often referred to as a cult, which was blamed for a major cluster infection resulting in over 5,200 COVID-19 cases in Daegu in 2020. Rep. Yoon Young-chan, who sided with the former prime minister during the primary, demanded an apology from the journalist.

Against this backdrop, Jeong's defection is widely viewed as an outburst of pent-up dissatisfaction among the DPK's pro-Moon faction. But candidate Lee's camp is attempting to downplay Jeong's move as an isolated case representing the "deviation of one individual."

However, surveys show that the DPK's internal fighting is benefiting the PPP.

According to a Hankook Research survey, 39.1 percent of respondents who supported the DPK in the 2020 general election said they no longer root for the liberal party. And 48.2 percent of those who left the DPK said they are now supporting the PPP's Yoon Suk-yeol, up 19 percentage points from a previous Hankook Research survey on Dec. 29-30.

The poll was requested by Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, of 1,000 adults from Feb. 18 to 19. Further details are available at the website of Hankook Research or the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.