Former president calls for conservative 'unity' in meeting with PPP leader

General election 2024

Published: 26 Mar. 2024, 19:07

Former president calls for conservative 'unity' in meeting with PPP leader

Han Dong-hoon, interim leader of the conservative People Power Party, poses for a photograph with former President Park Geun-hye, right, at her home in Daegu on Tuesday. [PEOPLE POWER PARTY]

Former President Park Geun-hye called for unity among conservatives during talks on Tuesday with People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon at her home in Daegu.

Their meeting came on the same day that the PPP acknowledged that its candidates face a “tough” electoral landscape, 15 days before polls open.

PPP floor leader Yun Jae-ok, who accompanied Han during the visit to Park’s home, told reporters after the meeting that the former president counseled the party leader on the need to maintain party solidarity “even as the country and economy face various difficulties.”

Since his appointment as the PPP’s interim leader in December, Han and President Yoon Suk Yeol have had several public disagreements over several issues, including the controversy over first lady Kim Keon Hee’s acceptance of a luxury Dior handbag as a gift from a Korean American pastor, as well as the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia.

The meeting between Han and Park was their first since Han was appointed interim leader of the PPP.

Park herself led Korean conservatives as chief of the Saenuri Party from 2011 to 2012 before she ran for presidency. The party renamed itself the Liberty Korea Party after Park’s impeachment and removal from office in 2017.

It later merged with two minor conservative parties in 2020 before the general election held that year, eventually rebranding as the current PPP.

Han and Park’s meeting took place the same day that the PPP’s deputy election campaign chief, Hong Suk-joon, said that the party expects to carry at least 82 of 254 directly elected regional constituencies based the party’s analysis.

Hong told reporters that “the situation is still tough, but our candidates in the campaign field say that the atmosphere definitely began improving since last week.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party’s (DP) campaign chief, Kim Min-seok, said his party is likely to prevail in 110 parliamentary constituencies.

The PPP and the DP said their candidates are currently maintaining leads in 20 and 97 districts in the capital region, whose 122 constituencies are expected to tip the balance of power in the National Assembly.

The two parties both said they expect to win a majority of the central Chungcheong region’s 28 constituencies.

The PPP is expected to win most seats in the southeastern city of Busan and the surrounding Gyeongsang region, while the DP is likely to sweep all constituencies in the southwestern city of Gwangju and the adjacent Jeolla region.

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