People Power Party and Rebuilding Korea Party Trade Barbed Gifts in Escalating War of Words

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the opposition Rebuilding Korea Party have engaged in a pointed war of words, exchanging gifts of apples and pears laden with political symbolism. The two parties have also clashed over the timing of a previously agreed debate between PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk and Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk on the "Daejang-dong appeal waiver."

On January 9, the Rebuilding Korea Party sent thank-you gifts to various political parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea, the PPP, the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Social Democratic Party, expressing gratitude for their welcome of party leader Cho. While center-left parties received rice cakes, the PPP was sent a box of apples along with a message reading: "Apologize for insurrection, sever ties with the far-right! We expect courage." The party explained that the gift was meant to demand accountability for the insurrection crisis and urge a break from far-right politics. In Korean, the word for apple, "sagwa," is a homophone for "apology."

The PPP fired back on January 12, returning the apples along with a box of pears. The PPP secretariat labor union stated in a press release that the pears were sent with the message to "stop advocating for public land ownership concepts, end hypocrisy on college admission irregularities, and sever ties with sexual misconduct," adding that the gift also meant to tell the Rebuilding Korea Party to "double its speed." In Korean, "bae" means both "pear" and can suggest "double" or "times" in certain contexts.

The Rebuilding Korea Party responded by posting a photo of a memorial altar arranged with the apples and pears sent by the PPP. The image included a message reading: "We pray for the repose of the far-right headquarters, the People Power Party." The party stated, "We understand the return of the apples as an apology from leader Jang Dong-hyuk for refusing the debate," adding that "party staff have renewed their resolve to work two, three, ten times harder to completely liquidate the insurrection and reduce the PPP to zero."

The two parties have also been sparring over the proposed debate between Jang and Cho on the "Daejang-dong appeal waiver." The Rebuilding Korea Party claims that after both parties agreed to the debate on December 22, it visited the PPP on December 24 to request prompt working-level discussions, but the PPP stalled until January 2. The party also said it proposed broadcasting the debate through both parties' YouTube channels, but the PPP rejected the idea and was uncooperative, including requesting a change of moderator.

The PPP countered: "From the beginning, we proposed a broadcast debate that more citizens could watch, rather than a YouTube stream with limited viewership. We even said we would accept fighting on unfavorable ground at MBC's '100 Minute Debate.'" The party added, "We also said we would accept anchor Jung Kwan-yong, whom the Cho Kuk party first suggested as moderator."