People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk (right) and floor leader Song Eon-seok attended the Supreme Council meeting on the 5th. [연합뉴스]
People Power Party lawmaker Kim Do-eup voluntarily resigned from his position as policy committee chairman on the 5th. It has been four months since I accepted CEO Jang Dong-hyuk’s offer to become the policy committee chairman in August of last year. According to the party constitution and regulations, the term of office is one year, but he resigned eight months early.
Representative Kim explained in a statement, “I am resigning because I have fulfilled my role as a fire starter for a trusted political party.” However, there are many analyzes within and outside of the political world that the mismatch between Representative Jang and Rep. Kim is one of the reasons for his resignation. This is because Rep. Kim, unlike Representative Jang, has been advocating for expansion of moderate external influence and a break with former President Yoon Seok-yeol.
At the in-house countermeasures meeting on December 30 of last year, Rep. Kim expressed his position, saying, “I am deeply devastated that the declaration of martial law caused anxiety and confusion to the people. I am sorry that a martial law situation occurred during the term of office of the president produced by the People Power Party.” Representative Kim is known to have expressed his gratitude to CEO Jang immediately after his remarks. According to a ruling party official, Representative Jang, who has been advocating ‘year-end unity and expansion of the New Year’s extension’, persuaded Rep. Kim to “wait until the end of the year.”
Rep. Kim, a four-term politician whose constituency is Gangseo, Busan, is evaluated as a reasonable centrist figure within the party. When Rep. Kim stepped down from his position after only four months, there were reactions within the party, such as “Many lawmakers are worried about the resignation of Rep. Kim, who served as a counterweight to neutralize the leadership’s hard-core stance” (Yeongnam senior citizen) and “A red light has been on about Representative Jang’s leadership since the beginning of the year” (Metropolitan area representative). The attention of the political world is focused on Chairman Jang’s announcement of the party reform plan scheduled for the 8th. A party official said, “We will focus on ways to secure talent and future vision.”
