Jung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, told a general assembly of lawmakers Thursday that "throughout history, we have won when united and lost when divided. What we must do is rally firmly around President Lee Jae-myung, make this government a success, and renew our mandate." Yet in the closed session that followed, multiple lawmakers reportedly called on him to resign. The June 3 local elections drew sharp criticism from within the party, with members describing the results as "an incomprehensible defeat" and "a failure beyond a psychological rout." That same day, calls arose within the People Power Party for leader Jang Dong-hyeok and the party leadership to step down and accept responsibility for the election outcome. Jang shrugged off the demands, saying that anyone seeking to force a choice on the leadership must first explain how the party's 110 lawmakers plan to address the ballot shortage crisis.
Both ruling and opposition party leaders appear to be turning a blind eye to the unmistakable verdict voters delivered through the local elections. The ruling Democratic Party won 12 of 16 metropolitan governorships and mayoral races but lost key battleground contests. The People Power Party, which had held a 12-to-5 advantage in those races, suffered a dramatic reversal. Voters signaled support for the Lee Jae-myung government's call for political stability while sending a clear warning against the Democratic Party's unchecked dominance. At the same time, they handed the opposition the minimum counterweight needed to check the government and ruling party — even as they punished the People Power Party for its ineffectiveness in opposition and the failures of the previous administration.
It would be more accurate to say this was an election with no real winner — a defeat for both sides. Yet neither party leadership has offered genuine self-reflection, sober assessment, or honest diagnosis. Immediately after the results came in, Jung said he was "deeply grateful to the people for delivering a great victory to the Democratic Party nationwide," adding only that "it hurts not to have retaken Seoul." Since then, only the political rhetoric has changed; there is little sign of any shift in his thinking. Without offering any concrete reading of what voters' choices actually meant, he drew criticism for a cryptic remark — "the people are eternal; governments are fleeting" — that sounded more like a riddle than a reckoning. Jang said he felt "regretful and sorry" about the results, but then framed them as "the people's order to stand against the arrogant and lawless Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party, and to defend the Republic of Korea" — showing no reflection on the majority of voters who backed the call for governmental stability.
Does the leadership of both parties truly not understand what every citizen can plainly see — or are they simply ignoring it to protect their grip on power? The essence of politics is the rational allocation of resources and the mediation of conflict, with the competition for power serving those ends. The country now stands at a crossroads, and politics must play a critical role in deciding how to distribute resources for future growth, overcome polarization, and achieve social cohesion. Instead, both parties are mired in a power struggle with means and ends completely reversed — a regressive fight that serves no one. Forces that refuse to reform will inevitably face a harsh reckoning.
