Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party who made "establishing party discipline" his first message upon returning to party duties, warned that "the time has come to provide an answer, whatever the conclusion, to disciplinary requests that have been put on hold."
Pulling out the party's disciplinary card, which he had held back over concerns about spreading internal conflict during the local election period, he declared all-out war against party members floating calls for his resignation as party leader.
Appearing on the Maeil Shinmun YouTube channel Wednesday, Jang stressed that "the notion that shaking up the leadership without any particular justification amounts to party renewal and innovation has been accepted, but this must be corrected."
In particular, taking aim at "Alternatives and Future," a group of first- and second-term People Power Party lawmakers that has demanded his resignation, he said, "Continuing only to attack the leadership is not presenting an alternative for the future of the Republic of Korea." He added, "There is a need this time to definitively put an end to unjustified efforts to shake up the leadership under the names of innovation, alternatives, and the future."
Jang also addressed the possibility of disciplining sitting lawmakers, saying, "When dealing with the issue of conduct harmful to the party and imposing discipline, whether or not someone is a sitting lawmaker is not the question." Observers interpret this as not ruling out the possibility of disciplining some pro-Han figures who covertly supported independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon during the local election phase.
He continued, "If discipline is necessary, I will examine the procedures and content thoroughly so that no controversy arises in the courts." This is interpreted as a remark conscious of an earlier case in which Rep. Bae Hyun-jin received a one-year suspension of party membership rights over a controversy involving "unauthorized posting of photos of a minor," only for the court to grant an injunction suspending the measure and thereby halt it.
He also rebutted "Alternatives and Future," which the previous day had strongly criticized Jang, saying that "advocating a re-election while ignoring the collective will is conduct harmful to the party." He countered, "I am talking about a re-election that the majority of the public is demanding, and to call it conduct harmful to the party—an act against the party line—simply because it differs from the thinking of some lawmakers, that is itself conduct harmful to the party."
As Jang signaled a hardline response day after day, criticism emerged from inside and outside the party. Yoon Hee-seok, a former People Power Party spokesman aligned with the pro-Han faction, said on YTN Radio that day, "Establishing discipline in a political party means muzzling people," pointing out that "it does not fit with democratic politics." Woo Jae-jun, the youth supreme council member who has called for the entire leadership to resign, signaled his protest the previous day by declining to speak at the supreme council meeting.
