Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon has cast himself as the chief critic of Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, and his growing prominence is exposing divisions within the People Power Party over what to do with him. Talk of bringing Han back into the party, dormant for months, has resurfaced among his allies, but the faction controlling the leadership is ruling out any return. At the same time, calls to use him as a weapon against the ruling party are gaining traction, complicating the leadership's calculations.
Lawmakers close to Han have revived the idea of his reinstatement, which had lacked a trigger until now, political sources said on the 13th. The calls have continued since Woo Jae-jun, the party's youth supreme council member, publicly proposed at a supreme council meeting on the 10th that Han's disciplinary suspension be lifted temporarily and his party membership restored so he could serve on the confirmation hearing committee for Kim.
"The easiest option at the party level is to bring him back and swap in a legislation and judiciary committee seat among our own lawmakers," a senior PPP lawmaker said in a phone interview with The Seoul Economic Daily. "When you have a player who can win the fight and you refuse to sign him, that is the manager's fault."
Han's reinstatement is entangled with factional dynamics inside the party, however, and some argue he should instead be enlisted as an ally in the campaign against the ruling party rather than brought back immediately. Senior lawmakers including Yoon Sang-hyun and Kim Tae-ho have publicly raised the need to coordinate with Han, fueling what has been dubbed the push to make use of him.
Asked at a National Assembly news conference on the same day whether he was weighing other options given that he cannot join the hearing committee, Han said many people in the People Power Party share his concerns and are working hard on the issue, adding that he is in communication with them. He was blunt about the party leadership, saying that if they will not fight alongside him, they should stop getting in the way and go bang a drum instead.
With both the reinstatement push and the alliance argument gaining ground, the leadership's calculations are growing more complicated. After the Democratic Party of Korea floated expelling Han from the National Assembly to shield Kim, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk called it a textbook attack on the messenger and a petty attempt to muddy the waters, but he has not moved to coordinate with Han directly. Observers say that if Han's profile keeps rising and his allies regroup, it could turn into a contest for control with Jang's leadership.
Park Sung-hoon, the PPP spokesperson, said the previous day that a confirmation hearing is not a venue for any one person to grab the spotlight, and that the core purpose of determining the nominee's fitness for office must not be obscured.
