Yoo Moo-gae, 31, is a developer from Gyeonggi Province. Mr. Yoo, who had voted for the Democratic Party in every election since the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye until the last presidential election, is no longer a Democratic Party supporter. When asked why, he cited “sexual assault cases and suspicions of spraying money envelopes at the convention.” Goa Moo-gae, 41, an office worker who also dropped out of the Democratic Party’s support base, asked what the Democratic Party did with its ‘majority seats.’ “Giving the Democratic Party seats doesn’t make a difference. On the contrary, the lives of ordinary people become harder, and they fight only for their own interests with the majority seats….”
With less than a year to go before next year’s general election, the Democratic Party is in the midst of its biggest crisis yet, with “bad news covering bad news,” including the money envelope scandal at the convention, Kim Nam-kook’s controversial cryptocurrency speculation, and the fall of Innovation Commissioner Lee Hae-kyung. As a result, the party’s popularity is plummeting, not only among the 2030s, but also among those in their 40s, who are considered the party’s core supporters.
<The Hankyoreh conducted in-depth interviews with 12 people in their 20s and 40s who, like Yoo and Ko, voted for Democratic presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung in the last presidential election, but have recently turned to independents. All of them were found to have voted more for the Democratic Party in the exit polls of the three broadcasting companies during the last presidential election. The reasons behind their decision to “break up” with the Democratic Party could be a rudder for Democratic innovation.
Two men and two women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s were interviewed by polling firm Global Research. They come from a variety of professions, including office workers, self-employed people, and Haitian industry workers, and 11 of them live in the Seoul metropolitan area, one of the biggest battlegrounds in the general election.
“You gave us a majority, but we voted down the arrest motion”
When asked why they turned their backs on the Democratic Party, respondents gave two main reasons: “incompetence to solve people’s problems” and “moral hypocrisy and corruption.
Respondents said that while the Democrats have monopolized legislative power with 167 seats, they have failed to prove themselves useful. When asked what the Democrats have done in the past year, most said they “don’t remember. “I don’t remember anything, I just remember the word ‘push’.” (Iamougay, Haitian developer, 35) There are a lot of immediate life issues that need to be addressed, such as real estate, low birthrate, and the economic crisis, but the Democrats have not proven their worth despite having the seats to do so.
The moment when they realized the power of the majority was when the Democratic Party, which had campaigned for the abolition of immunity from arrest, defeated the motion to arrest Lee Jae-myung. Although it was controversial within the party because it was not overwhelmingly defeated, it was imprinted in the eyes of the respondents as a spectacle of using the overwhelming majority to block the rhetoric of the party leader. Mr. Goa Moo-gae, a self-employed man in his 20s, said, “The most memorable thing was that Lee escaped (arrest) with political power that ordinary citizens cannot use.” Mr. Yoo, a developer, said, “The people didn’t give him a majority of seats to protect the party leader. It’s pathetic that he used the votes he should have used for the people’s lives.”
In the nine months since Lee’s inauguration, Korea Gallup’s regular polls show that the Democratic Party’s approval rating hit its lowest point (29% in the week of March 1, 2023). In retrospect, the defeat of Lee’s arrest motion was a pivotal moment where the “trappings of the overwhelming majority” and “moral hypocrisy” came together.
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon listens to Democratic Party of Korea Representative Lee Jae-myung’s new statement on his arrest motion at the plenary session of the National Assembly on Feb. 27. Kim Kyung-ho Senior Reporter jijae@hani.co.kr
■ ‘Political repression’ investigation sympathetic, but “prove your integrity by being investigated”
The majority of respondents agreed with the Democratic Party’s claim that the prosecution’s sweeping investigations targeting the Democratic Party, including the Daedong case, are “political retaliation. “I think the other side is investigating and cracking down because Lee Jae-myung didn’t become president,” said Mr. Lee, a Haitian developer. The perception is that if Lee hadn’t lost the presidential election, the Democratic Party wouldn’t have been subjected to such rhetoric.
But there’s a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. “I think the conservative party is playing ‘media games’ by manipulating the legal community메이저사이트,” said Son Amoogae, 47, a freelancer, “but as new news keeps coming out, I’m thinking, ‘To what extent did they do something wrong,’ rather than thinking that those under investigation are ‘innocent’?”
This perception led to the answer that they should face the investigation with dignity. This is the biggest difference from the enthusiastic supporters who claimed “prosecutorial repression” and actively defended those under investigation. Park Ah-moo-gae, 28, a physical therapist, said, “I’ve seen that there are always retaliatory investigations against the other side whenever there is a change of government, but this time I feel that it’s too much,” but added, “The prosecution is also a public power, so whether they are guilty or not, they should be investigated and prove their integrity.” Mr. Lee, who said the investigation was politically vindictive, also said, “If you are confident, you can openly face more investigations.”
Changes in party approval ratings since Lee took office * Tap image to enlarge.
■ Voted for Yoon Seok-yeol because they disliked him, but were irritated by the Democratic Party’s “hypocrisy
The ‘breakaway supporters’ in the 2040s were more likely to vote for the Democratic Party based on their ‘relative evaluation’ of the people’s power and the Democratic Party. “I didn’t support any of the presidential candidates, but I definitely disliked Yoon Seok-yeol, so I voted for Lee Jae-myung,” said Son, a freelancer. “Yoon only cared about people in the legal field, and I didn’t think he would do a good job.” Ms. Lee, a woman in her 30s, said, “I didn’t have a favorite candidate, but I didn’t want to resign, so I voted for him. “I didn’t have a favorite candidate, but I didn’t want to resign, so I voted for him. I wondered if he could do a good job as president because he had been in politics for such a short period of time.” She voted for the Democratic Party not because she liked Lee Jae-myung, but because she disliked Yoon Seok-yeol.
The recent spate of allegations against the Democratic Party has also undermined their perceived “relative advantage. Several respondents said, “The Democratic Party was led by people who worked hard for democratization, so there was an image of justice, but now the Democratic Party has become a party of people’s power and what?