Hong Jun-pyo warns People Power Party to prepare for dissolution, says major crisis looms at year-end

Hong Jun-pyo, the former mayor of Daegu, has urged the People Power Party to prepare for the possibility of forced dissolution.

Hong made the remarks Sunday on MBN's current affairs program "Jeong Un-gap's In-Depth Analysis," commenting on the state of the party's leadership. "If you elected Jang Dong-hyeok as a caretaker leader, you need to rally behind him — but the party isn't doing that," he said.

Hong was blunt about why Jang was chosen. "Do you really think they picked Jang Dong-hyeok because they believed he was capable? There was simply no one else to choose," he said.

He added that Jang had been installed as caretaker of "a party branded with insurrection," and warned that the situation would not have deteriorated this far if members had at least united behind their leader. "Right now, they can't even manage that," he said.

Hong predicted that a major crisis threatening the party's survival would arrive by year-end.

"If former floor leader Choo Kyung-ho is convicted at year-end as a key participant in the insurrection, the president from that party will also be convicted of insurrection, and the party will become an insurrection party," he said. "There is a possibility that the Lee Jae Myung government will move to dissolve it."

Hong also cited the precedent of the Unified Progressive Party, which was dissolved just three years after its founding. "The People Power Party will need to prepare for that as well," he said.