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| Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Nak-yon speaks during a Supreme Council meeting of the party at the National Assembly, Nov. 27, in which he participated through video as he was self-isolating after coming into contact with a COVID-19 patient on Nov.19. He tested negative. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Lee Nak-yon is facing a political challenge in terms of keeping up momentum to run in the 2022 presidential election.
Lee was inaugurated as the ruling party chairman only about three months ago in late August, but he may step down from the post by early March next year because he is widely expected to run in the 2022 presidential race. According to the party's regulations, a party member who plans to run in the presidential race must quit the party's other major posts, such as chairman or Supreme Council member, at least a year before the election. The next presidential election is slated for March 9, 2022.
Considering these points, Lee has reached halfway mark of his six-month term as the DPK chairman.
Lee's political ground, however, has not grown much but rather dwindled after he took the party chairmanship, according to recent polls of prospective presidential candidates, in which he has fallen behind Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung or Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl.
Before becoming the DPK chairman, Lee had taken an overwhelming lead in such polls until mid-August, when he started to lose his lead to Governor Lee, another DPK member. Adding to the challenge ahead of Chairman Lee is the rising popularity of Yoon who has become a candidate receiving the highest or second-highest support rate in recent polls since early November.
Political watchers said Lee has faced a dilemma between garnering more support from enthusiastic supporters of President Moon Jae-in by strongly pushing ahead with Moon's controversial policies including prosecutorial reforms, and keeping his previous stance of making reasonable and balanced decisions regarding controversial issues.
It seems Lee has opted for the former stance, as he has recently issued strong messages on controversial issues.
One such issue was the launch of a special investigative body to look into corruption by high-ranking officials and their family members, which has repeatedly been put off since its scheduled launch in mid-July due to strong protests from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).
Lee said in a recent party meeting that the DPK would push ahead with the launch of the investigative body within this year at all costs and the party would revise relevant laws to incapacitate the PPP's protests. His message came after a relevant committee which consists of experts recommended by the DPK and PPP and other high-ranking officials failed to reach an agreement on the nomination of candidates to lead the new office.
Lee also issued a strong message on the conflicts between Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon. After Choo gave the order in late November for Yoon to be suspended from duty and disciplined for his alleged interference in sensitive investigations, Lee said a parliamentary investigation is needed to look into the allegations against Yoon.
The PPP accepted Lee's proposal and added that a parliamentary investigation is also needed to look into allegations that Choo is abusing her power and attempting to coerce the prosecutor general and other prosecutors to allow her to push ahead with policies related to Moon's prosecutorial reform.
Continuous conflicts between the DPK and the PPP are also overshadowing Lee's previous message, which he issued when taking the chairman post, stating that he would emphasize a spirit of cooperation with the opposition bloc, political watchers pointed out.
