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Is the PPP locking itself into permanent opposition?

Published: 28 Jan. 2026, 00:02

Ko Jung-ae

The author is the editor-in-chief at JoongAng Sunday.

Reality tends to warp around power. Much like the immense gravity of a black hole distorts space and time, proximity to authority bends perception. Claims such as “I’ve never seen a president work this hard” or “the president knows more than anyone” are familiar refrains, and one learns to let them pass.

Song Eon-seog, floor leader of the People Power Party, and party lawmakers stage a tent protest outside the main building of the National Assembly on Jan. 27, calling for special counsel investigations into alleged Democratic Party nomination bribery and the Unification Church scandal. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

There are moments, however, when such distortions become startling. One came in late January 2024, just ahead of the general election. The country was gripped by turmoil over a special counsel bill targeting then-first lady Kim Keon Hee and a doctors’ strike triggered by plans to expand medical school admissions. Around that time, I met a close associate of former president Yoon Suk Yeol and conveyed the public mood. His response was delivered with unsettling confidence.

“Over the past month, the president’s approval rating has risen by 10 percentage points. It’s up in every poll. We will win the election.” “First lady Kim Keon Hee has done nothing wrong. She is a victim. She can explain, but she cannot apologize. As a public figure, she cannot apologize.” “This election is about asking for momentum to govern. The president will remain front and center throughout the campaign.”

It felt as if we were living in different universes. Around that time, Gallup Korea showed Yoon’s approval rating falling from 33 percent to 29 percent, while the National Barometer Survey recorded a slight dip from 32 percent to 31 percent. At best, the numbers were flat. They did tick up later, but that was wiped out by the former defense minister’s departure for Australia and Yoon’s April 1, 2024 address to the nation.

About six months later, another aide told me that some advisers had warned the party could end up with fewer than 100 seats and urged corrective action, only to hear Yoon respond that he did not care if they lost. At the time, I took this at face value, chalking it up to his stubborn streak. Now I wonder if it was simply a way to brush aside unwelcome advice, while privately believing he would still win. That is how frightening filter bubbles can be.

Such polarization emerges not from a team of rivals, where diverse views compete, but from a team of unrivals, where only similar voices remain. In Yoon’s case, aides who tried to inject reality were pushed aside or left. We all know how that ended. Yet until the very end, Yoon’s camp refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong. Perhaps it still does.

As Cass R. Sunstein has explained in “Going to Extremes,“ (2009) certain dynamics take hold in such groups. Strong internal bonds among like-minded people intensify extremism. Through voluntary sorting and self-selection, moderates are edged out and only fervent believers remain. Discussion among those bound by loyalty and affection pushes views further toward the extremes. Sunstein notes that echo chambers amplify shared fears and beliefs until they turn into hostility toward others, and that when exit becomes easy, dissenting voices dwindle and radicalism deepens. External and internal criticism often backfires, reinforcing existing convictions.

Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party, speaks before being taken to a hospital after ending a hunger strike at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on Jan. 22, calling for acceptance of twin special counsel probes into the Unification Church and alleged nomination donations. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

This happened not only in Yongsan then, but also now within the People Power Party (PPP). Beyond filling key posts with “Yoon Again” loyalists, party leaders argue that “the party leader represents the sum of individual members’ free will, so criticizing the leader is unacceptable,” or that “only certain polls showing low approval ratings are cited,” even when those polls are reputable. Dissenters are steadily driven out. As one observer put it, “If you can hate this completely, you might be happy forever.” Even reasonable figures are leaving. When I recently requested an interview with a party elder, he declined, saying he was considering quitting the party.

Will the PPP change? Not anytime soon. Persuading polarized groups requires messengers they trust, and those figures are often themselves part of the polarized core. If this continues, the party may be consigned to permanent opposition. That would be good luck for the ruling camp, but bad news for the country.

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.