Han should change the PPP and the president

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon has been nominated to head an emergency committee of the governing People Power Party (PPP). The straight-talking minister on Thursday accepted the party’s request for his new role as interim leader of the embattled party. Eight days earlier, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon stepped down as PPP leader after taking responsibility for the stagnant approval rating for the conservative party and the simmering internal conflict over proposals to innovate the party. Han will be the party’s third ad hoc leader less than two years after it took power in March last year.

Despite concerns about Han’s lack of political experience, a number of lawmakers, including party heavyweights, pushed for the recruitment of Han as the interim leader. Han himself expressed determination to re-energize the lethargic party even before the nomination. “All roads were unpaved in the beginning […] A real crisis comes from a lack of courage rather than from a dearth of experiences,” he said.

Han’s straightforwardness earned him a fresh impression, coupled with his elite image and fashion sense. In recent polls, he ranked first or second as a candidate for the next presidency. But the role as emergency committee head is drastically different from his job as justice minister. Above all, he must show leadership in communicating and cooperating with opposition parties rather than relying on a combative instinct. Han must first recover public trust in the conservative party and win in the upcoming parliamentary election in April to help President Yoon Suk Yeol run the government smoothly.

To do that, Han must revisit the PPP’s crushing defeat in a Seoul by-election in October. The voters wanted the president to change his high-handed — and ideology-based — governance style that led to public confusion over government policy. The collapse of the party system led by the former leader originated from the conservative party’s inability to overcome the top-down command from the president.

If Han fails to meet the critical demands of the time, he can hardly rescue the PPP from a crisis. Some party insiders expect Han to talk to the president directly thanks to their deep trust in each other, but others worry about the governing party being directly controlled by the president.

His first leadership test will be over his response to the Democratic Party’s threat to appoint a special prosecutor to dig into the suspicion over the first lady’s alleged stock price manipulation. If Han can demonstrate his leadership toward change, he can help salvage the PPP from catastrophe. Otherwise, he will only deepen the pain of the minority party from the start.