Deputy speaker's defection to PPP spotlights DP's factional chasm

General election 2024

Published: 03 Mar. 2024, 16:04

Deputy speaker's defection to PPP spotlights DP's factional chasm

People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Chairman Han Dong-hoon, left, speaks to reporters alongside National Assembly Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo, who recently defected from the Democratic Party (DP), after meeting at a restaurant in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Friday. Han proposed for Kim to join his party, and the former labor minister said she plans to join the PPP on Monday. [YONHAP]

Kim Young-joo, National Assembly deputy speaker and a fourth-term lawmaker who recently defected from the majority Democratic Party (DP), is set to join the rival People Power Party (PPP) on Monday.

On her Facebook account on Sunday, Kim, a former labor minister, referred to a dinner meeting with PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon on Friday and wrote, "I have decided to accept Chairman Han's offer and join the PPP."

Last month, Kim left the DP after the party notified her that she had ranked within the bottom 20 percent in terms of parliamentary activities, which hindered her chance of a nomination ahead of the April 10 general elections.

Kim, who represented Seoul's Yeongdeungpo A District, said in a press conference on Feb. 19 that she felt "humiliated" by this grading and sidelining from her party.

The former basketball player was recruited to joint politics by late President Kim Dae-jung and first became a proportional representative in 2004. She was later elected to three more terms as a lawmaker representing Yeongdeungpo A District and became former President Moon Jae-in's first minister of employment and labor.

People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Chairman Han Dong-hoon, left, pours a drink for National Assembly Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo, who recently defected from the Democratic Party (DP), at a restaurant in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Friday. Han proposed for Kim to join his party, and the former labor minister said she plans to join the PPP Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

In her Facebook post, Rep. Kim wrote that during her meeting with Han, he told her that "to change Yeouido politics, which is buried in partisan logic, we need to expand our reach to the moderates."

She said this prompted her decision to join the PPP and to do her best to win in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Kim defended her track record for extensive legislative activities helping people's daily lives, such as improving the quality of life of laborers, supporting underprivileged groups, including children, and improving the people's living environment.

Four PPP members have applied for the nomination to represent Yeongdeungpo A District, but the party has not yet decided on its final nominee.

The defection comes as the rift within the liberal DP widens between those aligned with DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung and those who aren't. Several DP members have left the party in recent weeks, ranging from former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who established his own splinter party, the New Future Party, to others like Kim opting to join the conservative PPP.

During Friday's meeting, PPP chief Han recommended that Kim join his party after they held a closed-door dinner meeting at a restaurant in central Seoul.

After the dinner, Han, standing alongside Kim, told reporters, "Current DP chief Lee Jae-myung is too broken to embrace a 'big politician' like Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo, who has common sense and pursues a reasonable cause."

He said they discussed the "big framework of what kind of politics we will pursue."

On Saturday, the local newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that 1,500 local DP members, alongside Kim, will withdraw from the party to possibly join the PPP. A DP spokesperson immediately responded whether the newspaper had been "fact-checked."

Other pro-Moon members of the DP also indicate plans to defect from their longtime party after being sidelined from nominations in favor of pro-Lee candidates, including former presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok.

Last Tuesday, Im failed to be nominated as the DP candidate for Seoul's Jung-Seongdong A District, the constituency widely considered his home turf.

Im reportedly met with Lee Nak-yon on Saturday, according to New Future Party sources.

Rep. Sul Hoon, a fifth-term lawmaker who left the DP last week to become an independent, and Hong Young-pyo, a fourth-term lawmaker, reportedly were set to meet with New Future Party chief Lee Sunday.

In response to the controversy over the DP's nomination process favoring his supporters leading to a series of defections, DP chief Lee said on Thursday, "Good candidates are being selected as a result of transparent screening," indicating he doesn't plan to change the party's current nomination policy.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]