People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on the 17th entered the third day of a hunger strike pressing the Democratic Party of Korea to accept a pair of special counsel probes into the Unification Church and nomination bribery.
Jang stayed in the rotunda of the main National Assembly building, where he began his hunger sit-in on the 15th, and caught some sleep in a tent again the previous night. Aside from slowly sipping water poured from a 500 mL bottled water into a clear glass, he reportedly put no food or drink to his lips.
At the sit-in site that day, People Power Party lawmakers and district party chiefs without Assembly seats continued to stop by. The leadership, including Secretary-General Chung Hee-yong, chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon, chief of staff Park Joon-tae, party leader's political affairs chief Kim Jang-kyom, and supreme council member Kim Min-soo, stayed by his side, and senior lawmakers such as five-term Na Kyung-won and three-term Lim Lee-ja also visited the sit-in.
Meanwhile, the pro-Han (pro-Han Dong-hoon) faction continues to protest the party ethics committee's decision to expel former leader Han Dong-hoon, citing what is known as the party members' bulletin board incident. Former supreme council member Kim Jong-hyuk is set to hold a rally at 2 p.m. in front of the National Assembly with supporters of the former leader to urge the withdrawal of Han's expulsion.
Within the party, some have questioned whether Jang began the hunger strike amid the controversy over Han's expulsion to change the political narrative. A figure close to Jang said, "Jang signaled a 'drastic measure' to pressure for a Unification Church special counsel a month ago during the 24-hour filibuster," adding, "the timing happened to coincide with the expulsion vote, and it is very regrettable that there are distorted views."