The People Power Party escalated its attacks on the Lee Jae-myung administration over the Chuseok holiday, targeting the government's handling of household costs, personnel appointments and national security. The party has pushed a "total governance failure" narrative that ties together high prices, housing insecurity, a series of failed Cabinet nominations and a recent land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone.
Choi Bo-yoon, the party's chief spokesperson, said in a statement on the 27th that "this should have been a bountiful Chuseok holiday, but what the public faced was only the bare face of a 'total governance failure' brought on by the Lee Jae-myung government — ruined livelihoods, a personnel disaster, a security crisis and the erosion of the rule of law."
Choi stressed that a full overhaul and a change in policy direction are needed now that the Lee administration has passed the one-year mark. "This Chuseok table was filled with the suffering that low- and middle-income households feel directly — murderous price increases, housing insecurity and vanishing jobs," the spokesperson said. "Public patience has already passed the breaking point in the face of an abuse of power obsessed with looking after its own camp, with no practical measures for daily life."
On the recent string of failed Cabinet nominations, Choi said, "The personnel disaster, stained by scapegoating and 'protecting the power behind the throne,' has laid bare the moral bankruptcy of this government." The spokesperson added, "Angry public sentiment cannot be soothed by cowardly scapegoating while the real power holders who should take responsibility are kept hidden behind the curtain."
Choi went on to say, "The Lee Jae-myung government must now lift the curtain of arrogance and self-righteousness and listen humbly to the stern voice of the people that erupted at this Chuseok table." The spokesperson added, "If it does not respond with a personnel overhaul that spares no one and a sweeping change in policy direction, it should remember that a great wave of angry public sentiment will eventually swallow this government."
Choi Soo-jin, the party's chief floor spokesperson, focused on security, using the recent land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone as her point of attack. "In the face of a security disaster in which soldiers shed blood, the Democratic Party of Korea is showing the height of turning the tables," she said.
"The Democratic Party has launched a counterattack of abusive language, calling the opposition's legitimate concerns about protecting lives and establishing the facts a 'security anxiety conspiracy theory' and 'treasonous behavior,'" the floor spokesperson said. "The real 'treason' is being unable to utter a single word of protest to North Korea even as soldiers have their legs severed."
She also said, "The Democratic Party is refusing the National Assembly Defense Committee's questioning session on the issue, which is the core of establishing the facts, while staging a 'political show for appearances' by saying it will visit the unit involved in the accident." She urged the party to "immediately stop these flimsy tactics that dodge its duties in the National Assembly while adding only burdens to a frontline unit that should be dealing with the aftermath."
She added, "The Lee Jae-myung government and the Democratic Party must stop guarding the feelings of the Kim Jong-un regime and immediately convene a full session of the Defense Committee to respond to questioning. Explaining transparently to the public the cause of the land mine explosion and why the investigation was delayed is the least they owe."
