People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok is stepping up activities outside Yeouido. As the ethics committee resumes its work and disciplinary action against several lawmakers, including the pro-Han faction, comes into view, Jang is keeping his distance from Yeouido politics.
On the afternoon of the 9th, Jang visited Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Jeolla, and met with the Gwangju police chief. This followed the detection of suspected evidence destruction by police in the "Jang Yun-gi case," in which a passerby high school girl was killed and Jang was indicted. As this was revealed during the prosecution's supplemental investigation, public opinion is again forming that the supplemental investigation authority should not be abolished.
Jang said, "The heinous 'rape and murder' of a high school girl by Jang Yun-gi once again proved how important the prosecution's supplemental investigation is," adding, "The father, a serving police executive, destroyed evidence of his son's crime. The head of the investigative team gave investigative information to that father and took the lead in downplaying the case. Without the prosecution's supplemental investigation, the truth would have been buried for good."
On the 8th, Jang also attended a youth forum in Incheon related to the shortage of ballot papers. At the event, Jang said, "When all the truth is uncovered through a special prosecutor, it will turn out that the person ultimately at the very top responsible for this situation is President Lee Jae-myung, and the accomplice is the Democratic Party of Korea," adding, "Unless we break the election cartel that binds President Lee, the Democratic Party of Korea, and the National Election Commission into one, we cannot establish real democracy in the Republic of Korea."
Jang also said he would attend rallies across the country to defend suffrage, starting in Incheon. Park Sung-hoon, the People Power Party's chief spokesperson, said regarding Jang's participation in rallies outside the Assembly, "We will faithfully capture the voices outside so a proper special prosecutor can be realized," and Rep. Kim Dae-sik, head of the party leader's advisory team, explained, "Regardless of ruling or opposition, party leaders usually spend more time outside than in the National Assembly building in Yeouido."
In political circles, Jang's activities outside the Assembly are seen as an attempt to distance himself from the ethics committee's disciplinary controversy. Ahead of the local elections, the People Power Party's ethics committee, which had suspended its activities, held a meeting on the 6th and began reviewing disciplinary requests. Lawmakers in the pro-Han camp who contributed to the election of independent Rep. Han Dong-hoon, and Rep. Cho Kyung-tae, who rejected the party's internal primary result for National Assembly vice speaker, are being mentioned as possible subjects of discipline.
As the ethics committee resumes its activities, the junior faction's offensive against leader Jang Dong-hyeok is also intensifying. Rep. Cho Kyung-tae the previous day even filed a disciplinary request against Jang with the ethics committee in a countermove. The longer the disciplinary controversy continues, the more Jang's leadership inevitably cracks.
However, it is unclear how much Jang's activities outside the Assembly will help consolidate his support. Although Jang has launched several off-site campaigns, he has not achieved clear results. People Power Party Rep. Kim Jae-seop said on Channel A's YouTube program, "The very fact of drifting outside shows, in stark terms, that Jang's political footing is extremely narrow and that the scope of his activity is skewed to an extreme."