Jang Dong-hyeok threatens disciplinary action against rivals, courts youth protesters to weather leadership crisis

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok has threatened disciplinary action against reform-minded lawmakers calling for his resignation, while reaching out to young protesters at Olympic Park rallies in a bid to push through the leadership crisis.

At a supreme council meeting Monday morning, Jang said he had visited Olympic Park the previous night. "Nearly a month has passed, yet countless young people and citizens are still gathering through the night, crying out for the restoration of their voting rights," he said. "I felt truly ashamed and sorry."

Immediately after the meeting, Jang attended a forum with young Olympic Park protesters at the National Assembly members' office building. He welcomed the Democratic Party of Korea's announcement that it would pursue a special prosecutor investigation into the National Election Commission as official party policy. "We will make sure the special prosecutor goes forward, and from now we will prepare to hold a by-election depending on the outcome," he said.

He added that the party would "completely clean out" the election commission and push through institutional reforms in line with public demands, including abolishing early voting. "I and the People Power Party will fight alongside you to the end, so that the justice and sincerity you have shouted yourselves hoarse for will not be ignored," he said.

Since his discharge from hospital, Jang has taken an increasingly hardline stance against mounting calls within the party for his resignation. Loyalists have signaled that reform-leaning lawmakers Kim Yong-tae, Kim Jae-seop and Woo Jae-jun could be referred to the party's ethics committee for disciplinary proceedings. The three lawmakers pushed back immediately, pushing the intraparty conflict toward an all-out confrontation.

However, observers inside and outside the party doubt that actual disciplinary action will be easy to carry out. Earlier this year, the Jang leadership imposed discipline on lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin and former supreme council member Kim Jong-hyeok, but courts granted both injunctions blocking the sanctions.

Kim Geun-sik, the PPP's constituency chief for Songpa-byeong in Seoul, said on CBS Radio Monday that Jang's disciplinary threats were "the death rattle of a leader cornered on all sides." "He appears to have no cards left to play, and our party members, lawmakers and constituency chiefs are paying no attention to it whatsoever," Kim said.

Meanwhile, Jang is also pushing to form a so-called "second-phase leadership" to reverse the party's fortunes. Filling the vacant policy committee chairmanship and replacing the secretary-general have been floated as options, but the selection process has run into difficulties.

One two-term lawmaker mentioned as a candidate for the policy committee chairmanship said the reshuffle was being undermined by calls for Jang's exit. "There is public sentiment that he should step down quickly, and because he isn't, putting together a new leadership becomes even harder," the lawmaker said. "Joining a leadership that people are already hostile toward is itself a burden."