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A year after martial law, the PPP's approval ratings still in the doldrums

Published: 25 Nov. 2025, 13:59 Updated: 26 Nov. 2025, 15:39

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk speaks at a rally in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Nov. 23. [NEWS1]

The main opposition People Power Party’s (PPP) approval rating remains at 24 percent in a poll conducted from Nov. 18 to Thursday, the same level it recorded nearly a year ago when the Dec. 3 martial law jolted national politics, despite the party’s shift to the opposition and former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment and detention.

The PPP shows no sign of breaking free from the shadow of the martial law crisis. The party has not issued a clear apology or drawn a firm line with the Yoon administration, and a year of internal argument has produced no resolution.

The party's troubles continue to pile up, even though they have had ample opportunity to make up ground on the ruling Democratic Party (DP). The DP's recent stumbles include fallout from President Lee's widely-criticized Oct. 15 real-estate measures as well as ongoing controversy over the abandoned appeal in the Daejang-dong land development case and its ensuing scandal involving alleged illicit profits. Both of these issues are weighing heavily on the party at present.

A graphic showing the rise in apartment prices [JOONGANG ILBO]

Yet for voters who experienced the martial law episode firsthand, the DP's current issues do not overshadow what many still view as the PPP’s original sin.

That perception has hardened as the party repeatedly appears stalled by indecision and avoidance. This tendency surfaced again at a party caucus on Monday. Observers expected a discussion on how to approach the one-year mark of the martial law episode, but the topic was not even on the table.

PPP leaders said they had to prioritize confrontation with the DP, yet the move appeared to many as another attempt to avoid a politically charged issue.

“The countdown to the one-year anniversary of martial law has started, yet the mood is one of deliberate avoidance,” a first-term PPP lawmaker said.

As PPP lawmakers hesitated, those who moved first were the June 3 local-election hopefuls, especially governors in competitive regions.

“The PPP must say clearly to the people: This was wrong and we are sorry,” Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon said on Sunday.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon answers a question about the Hangang Bus plan at the Seoul Metropolitan Council in central Seoul on Nov. 20. [YONHAP]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon echoed Park's position on Monday.

“We must make a sincere apology and show reflection,” Oh said. “The PPP’s transformation starts there.”

Oh also told several PPP lawmakers that “the one-year mark of martial law is the point at which the party must shake it off and move to the next step.”

But inside the PPP’s core base — especially among party leaders and members on the front lines of legislative confrontation — talk of an apology finds little traction. In fact, the rhetoric seems to be much the opposite.

“What the PPP must do now is fight,” Supreme Council member Kim Min-soo told the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday. “Lee Jae Myung and the DP are the ones who must apologize because they destroyed democracy and the rule of law. A blanket demand for an apology will only ruin the party and damage Korea.

Other members take things a step further.

“Yes, martial law was wrong, but the real problem is the DP spending the entire year exploiting it and calling it a coup,” Rep. Na Kyung-won of the PPP said.

Rep. Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Oct. 31. [NEWS1]

Despite expectations that the PPP should take a clearer stance, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk continues to steer a hard-line course.

“If we bow our heads, the DP will break our necks,” Jang said at a workshop for PPP chapter heads. “If we bend our backs, they will break our backs. Do you think they will end this fight just because we make the first move?”

His remarks echoed the view, common among those favoring a tougher stance, that an apology offers no benefit.

But Jang’s aides say he has not finalized the message he will issue on the one-year anniversary of the Dec. 3 martial law as he continues to gather opinions from multiple channels.

Political analysts warn that the PPP faces a far darker landscape than it did in the 2020 general election following impeachment.

“The PPP now faces a far bleaker situation than in the 2020 general election, when it failed to move past the impeachment crisis,” said Lee Hyun-woo, professor of political science and international relations at Sogang University. “The party cannot move past the martial law episode, and even its push to align with the Reform Party has run into obstacles.”

The 2020 general election took place while the PPP was still struggling to recover from the fallout of former president Park Geun-hye’s 2017 impeachment, and analysts widely concluded that the conservative bloc lost because it had not yet moved past that crisis. Whether they are able to move past their most recent one remains to be seen.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON KOOK-HEE, PARK JUN-KYU [[email protected]]