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| Rep. Song Young-gil, second from left, the new chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, presides over the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
With about 10 months left before the next presidential election slated for March 2022, Rep. Song Young-gil, the new chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is tasked with instituting reforms so that the party will not see a repeat of the crushing defeat in the April 7 mayoral by-elections for Seoul and Busan.
Although he pledged full-fledged changes, it is yet to be seen whether this will be possible as most other members in the party leadership are close to President Moon Jae-in and want to stick with the current policies of the administration.
Song, a five-term lawmaker and head of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, was elected as the new chairman at a DPK convention Sunday.
The selection of new leadership came after the party's hammering by the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) in the by-elections, which were widely seen as a barometer for the next presidential election.
Regarding this, the political situation is unfavorable for the ruling party as public opinion has been worsening over multiple policy failures, especially the administration's failed attempts to stabilize the real estate market and delays in the supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
Recent polls have shown that the approval ratings for both President Moon and the DPK are continuing to decline. In a poll released Monday by Realmeter, the President's approval rating was 33 percent, his lowest ever, while the DPK's 27.8 percent was also the lowest since the inauguration of the Moon administration.
At a press conference at the National Assembly, Monday, Song vowed all-out efforts to overcome the ruling bloc's crisis. In terms of policy drives, he said the party would focus on stabilizing the housing estate market and increasing the supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, Song said he would focus on harmonizing the different voices within the party, and pay more attention to the opinions of the general public, recognizing the criticism that certain "loud" party members are estranging the party from the people.
"We will try to push ahead with efficient reform of the party. To do so, we need to listen to various voices from the public rather than listening to those who have strong voices based on biased views. By doing so, we can gain an objective and balanced view on public opinion and present policies in accordance with it," Song told reporters.
"The most important thing is to strengthen democratic communication among the 174 lawmakers of the party. The party's defeat in the April 7 by-elections showed that such democratic communication inside the party had been broken."
Song added that the new leadership would especially try to listen to those in their 20s and 30s.
Political watchers said how to successfully manage the next presidential election race could be most important task for Song. They said the ruling party should carry out overall reform which reflects public opinion more.
"The DPK needs to expand the scope of its support base, by successfully managing its presidential candidates. It will also need to bring in some fresh figures from outside the party while applying fair rules in its presidential candidate selection," Park Sang-byoung, a political commentator, said. "The party needs to run the candidate selection in a dramatic and exciting way, so that many people will be interested in watching it."
Political watchers also said that it will be important for the new leadership to find unity among enthusiastic supporters of the party and party members who have different opinions.
"Many people say that uninterrupted reform itself is reform, but it must go along with public sentiment. If the ruling party focuses on causes or slogans and neglects the issue of the general public's livelihood, that is not true reform," said Cha Jae-won, a professor of special affairs at the Catholic University of Pusan.
However, Song faces five Supreme Council members who are so-called "pro-Moon" figures that actively support the President's various policies such as prosecutorial reform. They have said the party should support the President to push ahead with such measures, showing a marked difference from the new chairman's stance.
