Ex-President Park Geun-hye visits PPP leader on hunger strike

Former President Park Geun-hye visited conservative People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok, who was on a hunger strike, and urged him to stop. Jang then ended the protest after consuming only water and salt for eight days.

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok, left, on the eighth day of his hunger strike, shakes hands with former President Park Geun-hye at his protest site in the National Assembly on Jan. 22. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

Former President Park Geun-hye visited conservative People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok, who was on a hunger strike, and urged him to stop. Jang then ended the protest after consuming only water and salt for eight days.

Park met Jang at the National Assembly at around 11:20 a.m. and held his hands. “Continuing to fast will seriously damage your health,” Park said.

“I hope you will promise me you will stop,” she added. “There could be more difficulties ahead, so I hope you end the hunger strike for the sake of the future and recover your health.”

Jang replied, “I will.”

During the meeting, Park denounced the government and the ruling Democratic Party for not visiting Jang during his hunger strike.

“It is something that should never happen politically,” Park said, referring to “the government and the ruling party showing no response to Jang’s hunger strike.”

She also pushed back against criticism that the hunger strike had achieved little.

“Absolutely not,” Park said. “The public will recognize [Jang's] sincerity. [...] As a politician, he fought with his life on the line for what he believed was right.”

Former President Park Geun-hye, left, visits and talks with People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok at his hunger strike protest site in the National Assembly on Jan. 22. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

Sitting face-to-face with Jang, Park spoke with him for about five minutes. Jang listened to her quietly and at one point showed a faint smile.

When he tried to see her off, Park stopped him and told him to rest. Jang responded, “Thank you.”

It was Park's first visit to the National Assembly's main building since November 2016. At the time, she met then-National Assembly speaker Chung Sye-kyun to discuss ways to stabilize politics during the influence-peddling scandal. She attended former President Yoon Suk Yeol's inauguration ceremony in May 2022 on the National Assembly grounds but did not enter the main building.

After meeting Park, Jang ended his hunger strike and was taken to a hospital. He began the strike on Jan. 15, calling on the government and the ruling party to accept special counsel probes into the Unification Church and alleged cases of exchanging bribes for nominations across the political spectrum.

“I am stopping the hunger strike today to participate in a longer and bigger fight,” Jang said after ending his protest. “From today, the people’s lament over the corruption of the Lee Jae Myung administration and the Democratic Party’s tyranny will blaze like wildfire.”

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. BY PARK JUN-KYU [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]