Conservative party closer to inviting justice minister to be leader

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon arrives at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Senior officials of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) on Wednesday entered the final stage of deliberations to decide whether to formally invite Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon to assume interim leadership of the party.

If the party makes the request and Han accepts, he is expected to resign from his ministerial post as early as this week.

The PPP has held a series of meetings involving its senior officials, party lawmakers and election district managers to mull candidates to lead the party after Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon stepped down amid mounting pressure for party reform.

While PPP members earlier in the week appeared divided over moves to invite Han as the party’s interim leader, those differences appeared to have been papered over after the justice minister implied he would accept an offer to lead the party.

PPP lawmakers aligned with President Yoon Suk Yeol have cited Han’s high approval ratings within the party and the broader public to make the case that he is suited to lead the party, while detractors have objected because of his lack of political experience.

Before being appointed justice minister in May last year, Han worked on several high-profile investigations against former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, as well as former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his family.

Drumbeat for Han Dong-hoon to lead PPP grows

On Sunday afternoon, Han denied receiving any requests from the PPP to lead the party but hinted that he would be open to accepting a formal offer.

In comments to reporters as he arrived at the National Assembly to attend a Judiciary Committee meeting, Han said, “All the roads in the world didn’t start as paths. They only came into being when many people trod them together.”

When asked if he had concerns over his lack of political experience, Han responded that “real crises arise not from a lack of experience, but when people are too calculating and try to avoid risks.”

Han has also denied that under his potential leadership, the PPP would become too closely aligned with the Yoon administration to function as an independent party.

“I have lived under the principle of pursuing public interests during my life as a public servant. I have never blindly obeyed anyone and will not do so in the future,” he said.

Han is widely considered Yoon’s protégé, having worked under the president in several prosecutorial investigations when Yoon himself was a high-ranking prosecutor.

Meanwhile, Kim announced on Wednesday that he would run again in the April general election to represent Ulsan’s Nam-B district, breaking a week-long silence on his political future following his resignation from the PPP chairmanship.

In a text message to party members in the constituency, which he has represented in the National Assembly almost continuously since 2004, Kim said he intended to “focus more on the future of [Ulsan’s] Nam District” by “letting go of [his] responsibilities at the party headquarters.”

Before his resignation, Kim and other PPP heavyweights faced heavy pressure to give up safe seats and run for constituencies that traditionally lean toward the rival Democratic Party.

The party’s now-dissolved innovation committee — which was led by Ihn Yo-han, a naturalized Korean citizen and medical school professor at Yonsei University — had recommended senior PPP officials make sacrifices as part of major overhauls within the party to rebuild public trust.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]