The rival parties offered sharply divided reactions to President Lee Jae-myung's press conference. The ruling Democratic Party said the event dispelled doubts about both a constitutional amendment allowing presidential reelection and the possible withdrawal of criminal charges against Lee, and voiced strong expectations of a rebound in approval ratings.
The main opposition People Power Party, by contrast, dismissed the event as "a declaration of an anti-president, not a president." The party argued that Lee extended a hand only to the ruling bloc and progressive camp in an effort to reverse his slipping support, while leaving room to push ahead on the reelection question and the withdrawal of charges, the two issues on which the opposition had demanded answers. Parties in the broader ruling bloc credited Lee for his commitment to unity.
Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party, told reporters on the 18th after the president's press conference that he had been "of the same mind and the same heart as the president throughout," adding that the party "will listen more humbly and attend to people's livelihoods." Kim watched the event with the party leadership at the party leader's office in the National Assembly. Speaking afterward on the YouTube channel of the party's Seoul chapter, Kim said the administration's policy direction had been set but that "people were having a hard time feeling it," adding: "What matters is how we handle coexistence, distribution and livelihoods alongside a recovery in growth, and the president's press conference made that shift in direction clear."
Chief spokesperson Park Sung-joon said in a briefing at the National Assembly that the event was "an occasion for the president to speak frankly and humbly before the public about his thinking on state affairs," and that it "reaffirmed his commitment to livelihoods, reform and national unity." On the reelection amendment and the withdrawal of charges, the opposition's main lines of attack, floor spokesperson Jeon Eun-su said in a written briefing that "the president himself said he will not seek reelection," adding: "The People Power Party now has no grounds to refuse constitutional reform." She said Lee had also "stated a clear position on the controversy over withdrawing the charges."
Democratic Party lawmakers said Lee's remarks had cleared away sources of political instability and expressed hope that they would mark a turning point for the approval ratings of both the party and the presidential office. They particularly credited the president with checking defections among his so-called core supporters. A two-term lawmaker allied with Lee said by phone that the president "made his commitment to unity clear to his core base," adding: "We have confirmed a basis for a rebound in support." Park Jie-won, a five-term lawmaker and the party's oldest member, wrote on Facebook that "if the tone he showed today holds, this will turn adversity into opportunity and the Lee Jae-myung administration will surely succeed." Choi Min-hee, a lawmaker aligned with Chung Chung-rai, said she was "grateful that he empathized with the wounds inflicted by accusations of a 'secret alliance between anti-Lee factions and members of Shincheonji, a religious group.'"
The People Power Party, by contrast, denounced the event, saying "not one of the president's ideas has changed" and that "the day of public judgment is drawing nearer."
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, held a press conference afterward and said the event was "a declaration that he will take the left's hand and go his own way, whatever the public says." On Lee's stance on reelection, he said: "If he has no intention of seeking another term, he could simply declare that he will not seek reelection. Why play the part of the wronged man?" On the withdrawal of charges, he said "the whole country knows the president's wish is for his trial to be dropped," adding that "whether or not a clause on withdrawing charges goes into the special counsel law, he can withdraw them at any time if he chooses to." If Lee proceeds with the appointment of Kim Seung-won as justice minister, Jang said, the party "will consider stronger means of struggle than a public rally."
Floor leader Chung Jom-sig likewise called it "a despairing press conference." He said at a press conference that Lee had "repeated the line that the policy course stays the same in one empty rhetorical flourish after another," and that "there was no reflection whatsoever on policies that plunder the public's assets, from property to stocks to farmland." On single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds, where responsibility was left unclear, he said Lee had "dodged irresponsibly by saying 'someone must have decided,'" and vowed to push for a special counsel investigation.
Parties in the broader ruling bloc gave Lee high marks for his commitment to unity. Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's policy research institute, wrote on Facebook that Lee had said of the falling approval ratings, the conflicts and the fights over exclusion within the progressive camp that "it is all because of my shortcomings," calling that "a relief," and added that he "will support the president in successfully running his leg of the relay." Noh Jung-hyun, chief spokesperson for the Progressive Party, said the party "views positively the president's position, which was like a sincere reply," and urged that "now that draining partisan strife and unnecessary doubts have been cleared away, the mounting tasks of broad social reform must be pushed forward."
