There’s an old saying in South Korean politics: rightists fall from corruption, while leftists crumble from division. Lately, however, these roles appear to have reversed.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of the left-wing Democratic Party is entangled in five separate trials on charges ranging from bribery to breach of trust. In November, he was convicted of violating election laws – a decision that, if upheld by the Supreme Court, would disqualify him from running in the next presidential election. Cho Kuk, another prominent leftist politician, recently lost his parliamentary seat after the nation’s top court upheld his two-year prison sentence for corruption. Lee’s and Cho’s wives have been convicted, respectively of misusing a corporate credit card and academic fraud.
Contrastingly, the ongoing saga of President Yoon Sok Yeol’s impeachment highlights the lengths the pro-Yoon conservatives will go to shield their man, even at the cost of profound division within the broader conservative wing.
The anonymous vote on December 14 to impeach Yoon has sparked widespread speculation that 12 lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) broke ranks to support the motion. Three members abstained, and eight votes were invalidated. Assuming all opposition members endorsed the impeachment, 23 ruling party lawmakers diverged from their party’s official stance of non-impeachment.
PPP Chairman Han Dong-hoon, who reversed his initial stance to advocate for Yoon’s impeachment, has since resigned amid the fallout from the latest crisis – or, more precisely, Han was deposed by senior members of his party.
As if this chaos weren’t enough, the ruling party is now using such terms as “traitors” to attack the dozen who defied party directives.
Pro-Yoon conservatives’ aversion to Han has deep roots. The now-resigned party leader, once Yoon’s closest confidant, frequently adopted a critical stance toward the president’s growing list of scandals, urging the chief executive to put his house in order. This rankled Yoon’s staunchest praetorians.
In July, when Han rose to leadership with overwhelming support after serving months as interim head, the ruling party’s establishment quickly mounted an offensive. The party’s “aristocratic clique,” as one journalist described the faction, refused to let an outsider like Han lead without resistance. Persistent uncooperativeness and internal tensions created an environment that made forging a cohesive coalition nearly impossible for the novice party chair.
Meanwhile, outside the political arena, pro-Yoon Youtubers and supporters unleashed a barrage of unverified and malicious rumors to undermine Han’s standing. Frustrated by the relentless smear campaign, Han, at one point, consulted the president about defamatory attacks against him – to no avail.
Of course, Han is partly to blame for his frequent flip-flopping positions, including his handling of the latest turmoil. However, no matter what Han did, the pro-Yoon faction was determined to oppose him. As if waiting for the opportune moment, the party’s senior parliamentarians swiftly moved to dispose of their chief after Yoon’s impeachment motion passed last week.
Efforts to uproot and shame those who voted for Yoon’s impeachment are also intensifying. One PPP lawmaker went so far as to call them “weasels who stabbed [the president] in the back.” Hong Jun-pyo, Mayor of Daegu and a prominent PPP member, has openly demanded their expulsion from the party.
In the wake of Yoon’s widely criticized martial law gambit, there has been neither introspection nor meaningful effort to unite the ruling party. Amid the ongoing infighting, the party’s approval ratings have plunged to 25.7%, a record low since Yoon assumed office in May 2022. According to the newspaper Kyunghyang, nearly 8,000 individuals withdrew their PPP memberships between December 4 and 15.
But despite the waning public support and the looming uncertainty over Yoon’s survival, the Pro-Yoon faction is conducting business as usual. The ruling party’s establishment looks relieved to have finally toppled Han, replacing him with a familiar face, Kweon Seong-dong. Other crusaders for Yoon appear equally pleased, now shifting their focus to eliminating the disloyal members within the party.
Such political purges mirror the events during former conservative President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, as though they’d been lifted from the same playbook.
In December 2016, Park was impeached by parliament with the backing of a swath of lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party (predecessor to PPP). What ensued was a bitter clash between pro-Park and anti-Park factions, ultimately leading to numerous party defections.
The following March, the Constitutional Court formally removed Park from office. An early presidential election was held in May, which gave way to the leftist takeover of the presidency with Moon Jae-in’s decisive victory. Those who were “selectively” labeled anti-Park were ruthlessly attacked and marginalized from mainstream politics.
After weeks of discord and self-inflicted wounds, the ruling PPP is expected to elect a new interim leader and enter into emergency committee mode. Someone from the establishment or an individual easily controlled by it will most likely be chosen. With some senior members reportedly maneuvering behind the scenes, the party may seek to eject the 12 or 23 “betrayers,” hoping to consolidate power behind Yoon as he faces a constitutional court ruling.
Glaringly absent from the mainstream right-wing discourse is a deeper reflection on the party’s faltering state and a commitment to bridging its internal divides. It appears conservatives in South Korea have learned little since the last impeachment crisis that nearly obliterated their political existence.
The next president, regardless of who that may be, will inherit a nation weighed down by deep political rifts. The cycle of blame and short-term turf war will persist. But for the pro-Yoon conservatives, without meaningful introspection and readiness to prioritize unity over factionalism, the same destructive patterns will continue to shape their future.
