Is People Power Party headed for dissolution?
Expert says dissolving party 'would be difficult,' suggests strong reform, rebranding
Voices either calling for or expressing concerns over the dissolution of the main conservative People Power Party have grown in recent days.
This comes amid a widening rift within the party over the defeat in the June 3 presidential election, coupled with looming threats of being subjected to special counsel investigations targeting impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on multiple charges connected to his failed martial law bid.
But an expert expressed skepticism over the scenario of a dissolution, saying such cases have been rare.
The liberal and ruling Democratic Party of Korea's Rep. Park Hong-geun on Wednesday floated the idea of swiftly passing a bill that he drafted in March that would dissolve the 'party of a president' convicted of impeachment or treason.
In March, Park, along with several other Democratic Party lawmakers, drafted a bill to amend the Political Parties Act and allow the Ministry of Justice to review and file a dissolution of the party under such circumstances with the Constitutional Court, without delay. Under the current law, the Constitutional Court alone has the power to dissolve political parties.
'At the time when the bill was drafted, I wasn't focused on (pushing for) the passage of the legislation because I had reasonable expectations that the People Power Party would reflect upon their actions and reform once former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office and the party loses the early election,' Park wrote in a Facebook post.
'With the People Power Party refusing to look back or reform until the end, shouldn't the National Assembly pass the amendment to the Political Parties Act and (the main People Power Party) be dissolved in accordance with the request of (the people) and a legal process?'
Park denounced snowballing conflicts within the main conservative party.
Interim leader Kim Yong-tae, has called for reform, including changing the months-old party line of voting against Yoon's impeachment motion. The majority of the People Power Party lawmakers boycotted the plenary vote on the party line. Supporters of Yoon within the conservative party, meanwhile, have called for party leadership, including Kim, to step down and take responsibility for the election loss.
On the other side of the political sphere, former Daegu Mayor and heavyweight conservative politician Hong Joon-pyo has warned the People Power Party 'to brace for' President Lee Jae-myung's apparent plans to dissolve the party.
'After the Lee Jae-myung administration wraps up the special counsel investigations (against Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee) they are expected to launch a process to dissolve the party, so brace for (a situation) where every man will become himself,' Hong wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday.
One of the three special counsel probe bills promulgated by Lee on Tuesday is to look into allegations that the People Power Party leadership at the time stood in the way of the Assembly's move to pass a motion to lift Yoon's martial law bid early in the morning of Dec. 4, 2024.
Observers have expressed concerns this could serve as grounds for the Constitutional Court to approve the dissolution of the party.
However, Park Sang-byeong, a political commentator and professor at Inha University, pointed out that the dissolution of a political party is a process that is 'more complicated than it seems on the surface' and that the court would find the leadership's alleged involvement to be an 'insufficient' argument.
"There is expected to be reform or a rebranding of the party, but it would be difficult and insufficient for the Constitutional Court to dissolve the People Power Party on the current reasons cited by the ruling party," the expert said via phone. "A strong reform and rebranding would be a plausible solution for the People Power Party."
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
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