Calls for People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok to resign show no sign of dying down. More than 20,000 party members have joined a petition demanding his departure, and voices inside and outside the party are once again raising the question of whether senior lawmakers should step in. The party leadership, however, is brushing aside the resignation talk and says it will stay focused on its fight against the ruling camp.
According to political sources, some PPP members have been running a signature campaign since June urging Jang to step down, targeting both registered party members and ordinary citizens. The organizers accused Jang of responding to the party's crushing defeat in the local elections with stonewalling and window-dressing rather than reflection and reform. As of Wednesday afternoon, about 22,000 people had signed the petition.
The members leading the campaign confirmed Wednesday that they had emailed all 33 PPP lawmakers serving their third term or higher, asking whether they would accept a joint letter calling for Jang's resignation. The move is widely read as a strategy to press senior figures into action rather than confronting the party leadership directly.
Park In-gyu, a registered PPP member who has been leading the campaign, said the level of support gathered from inside and outside the party now demands a response. "I believe it is the senior lawmakers — those in their third term or beyond — who should play that role," he said.
The idea that senior lawmakers should take the lead has been raised consistently since around the June 3 local elections. The argument is that with the PPP's approval rating failing to recover as hoped after the vote, veteran members need to provide a steadying hand ahead of the 2028 general election.
Senior lawmakers have nonetheless kept a low public profile even as the party has been rattled by recent incidents, including a physical altercation involving the floor leader and a controversy over ethics committee disciplinary proceedings. Lawmakers in their third term or higher are expected to meet this month to discuss party affairs.
One three-term lawmaker said there is sympathy for the calls for Jang to step down and that the party should take members' views seriously, but added a note of caution. "Even when senior lawmakers pool their views and pass them on, there are many times when the leadership simply does not listen," the lawmaker said.
A party official said senior lawmakers would be reluctant to come out publicly and join the signature campaign, but predicted that even those critical of the current leadership would work toward a smooth transition to the next one. "They will try to align around a direction that allows the next leadership to take over smoothly," the official said.
The party leadership, meanwhile, is keeping its distance from the resignation calls. Some within and around the party also note that a leadership change in the near term would be difficult in practical terms, given that the regular parliamentary session opens next month, followed by the national audit and the budget session.
Jang held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and questioned the origins of the campaign. "I would like people to look carefully at whether this truly reflects the spontaneous will of party members, or whether it is part of another strategy to destabilize the leadership," he said. "Where our party needs to be right now is on the front lines, fighting the Lee Jae Myung administration that is destroying people's livelihoods."
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
