Kim Min-seok, who won the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea by defeating Rep. Jung Chung-rae on a pledge to build a "capable governing party," has yet to establish his leadership a month into his term. With responsibility being assigned for the fracturing of the party's base and falling approval ratings, his political burden grew heavier after Kim Seung-won, the justice minister nominee he had publicly defended, withdrew from consideration. The launch of a constitutional reform task force was an attempt to change the narrative, but even within the party there are concerns that momentum for constitutional reform has already faded.
Speaking at a press conference on the 20th at the National Assembly marking the launch of the Democratic Party's constitutional reform task force, Kim said, "The president has stated his commitment to constitutional reform several times and has clearly addressed the obstacles raised by the opposition." He added, "It is now time to move to a serious discussion of constitutional reform rather than nitpicking over words." The remarks suggested that the opposition's rationale for resisting reform has disappeared now that President Lee Jae-myung ruled out the possibility of serving consecutive terms at his own press conference on the 18th.
The Democratic Party outlined broad directions for constitutional reform, including writing the spirit of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the Buma Democratic Protests into the constitution's preamble, reforming the power structure and improving the political system, and strengthening the concept of a basic society and social fundamental rights. "The essence of constitutional reform must also be reform for people's livelihoods and for national unity," Kim said. "We will take the path of success in livelihoods, success in state affairs, success in constitutional reform, success in national unity and success in consecutive terms in power." Kim Tae-nyeon, head of the task force, also proposed drawing up an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties by the first half of next year at the latest and putting it to a national referendum.
The push for constitutional reform is a move to back at the party level the "structural majority" concept presented by President Lee. Kim recently stressed his intent to broaden the party's reach, saying, "The Democratic Party will take the path of the eldest brother among progressive parties, a structural majority that embraces conservatives and moderates." The idea is to keep open the possibility of integration with the Rebuilding Korea Party and other allied forces while also encompassing moderate and conservative voters to build a stable foundation for governing.
But the record Kim has compiled during his first month falls short for someone standing at the forefront of constitutional reform, an effort that requires overwhelming public support and a broad consensus. Despite his pledge of "unity and expansion," friction with the Rebuilding Korea Party continues over how to merge or form an alliance, and internal disagreements within the governing bloc have surfaced over prosecution reform and personnel matters. Aftershocks also remain among party supporters divided during the leadership convention. Contrary to his plan to embrace moderate voters, he has yet to resolve the task of uniting even the allied parties and the party's core base.
The decision to cancel a press conference marking his first month in office and instead hold one for the launch of the task force has also prompted analysis that it reflected his failure to produce clear results since taking office. On this, chief spokesperson Park Sung-joon explained, "The president held a press conference on Friday, and there were views that holding the leader's press conference just a day or two later was physically too short an interval."
The decline in approval ratings confirmed by opinion polls is another burden. Kim pledged a "10 percentage point rise in party approval within 100 days of taking office," but in a party approval survey conducted by Realmeter at the request of Energy Economy Newspaper on the 10th and 11th among 1,003 people nationwide aged 18 and over, support for the Democratic Party stood at 36.1%, down 5.7 percentage points from the previous week. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Rallying the existing base and reversing the party's approval ratings has emerged as a more immediate task than expanding its reach.
The nominee's withdrawal also damaged Kim's leadership. Even as the opposition raised allegations, Kim publicly defended Kim Seung-won, saying he was "an appointment that looks better the more you watch it," and the Democratic Party adopted the confirmation hearing report on its own. But the nominee ultimately stepped down on the 19th, saying he had "failed to meet the public's expectations."
Kim and the Democratic Party are turning their fire on Rep. Han Dong-hoon, an independent who led the allegations against the nominee, in an effort to overcome internal divisions and the opposition's offensive, but whether this will become a turning point remains uncertain. With the nominee having already stepped down citing "the public's expectations," a prolonged exchange with Han could only keep drawing attention to the controversy. Still, Democratic Party spokesperson Cho Kye-won argued on the same day, "Who gave him the prosecution's confidential investigation materials?" and said, "Rep. Han is the very person who requires a compulsory investigation," urging police to open an immediate inquiry.
Poll results cited in this article can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
