You deserve the defeat, PPP

The PPP is fooling itself if it thinks it can earn public support with such passiveness and impotence.

Lee Sang-ryeolThe author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo. What is more deplorable than the crushing defeat of the governing party in the by-election for the district head of Gangseo in western Seoul last week is the party’s behavior afterward. The People Power Party (PPP) held a meeting of all its lawmakers four days after the defeat — and two days after President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the governing party to initiate “a substantial change in a calm and wise manner.”

The party started to move only upon an order from the president. It is no wonder the PPP is sneered at as an “outlet of the presidential office in Yongsan.” It seated another pro-Yoon lawmaker from the Gyeongsang region — home base of Korean conservatism — as the secretary general responsible for putting up the roster of PPP candidates running in the next parliamentary election on April 10. The party apparently does not have any courage or ability to bring on a reform-minded legislator. How can such a party get ready for the critical election less than six months away, not to mention winning a victory?

The PPP is dubbed the weakest governing party in the history of Korea’s modern politics. The unprecedented lethargy does not just originate from its majority-short seats in the legislature or from its unique subservience to the president. A governing party must share the responsibility with the government to oversee state management and care for public livelihood. Nomination and election come next.

But the PPP does not demonstrate any eagerness. The president has already set labor, education and pension reforms as a key agenda. However, few from the party have come forward to take the challenge. Its special committee on labor reform has made little progress, except for a committee member making a sarcastic comment on current unemployment benefits. Despite little progress on reforming the ailing national pension, no one from the party has spoken up. The National Assembly special committee on pension reform has been sitting on its hands since July, but the PPP is in no rush. If left unattended, the world’s third-largest national pension fund would be depleted by 2055.

The scientific community’s protest was foreseeable after the government drastically cut the budget to promote research and development in next year’s budget. The news has discouraged and angered young scientists who have been devoting themselves to R&D. But the PPP did not recognize the gravity of the issue or attempt to communicate with the representatives of scientists and researchers. The PPP did not prove its raison d’être.

On the economic front, the party rarely pitched hard for key reform bills needed to energize the slow-moving economy. A bill to mandate a watch on fiscal integrity has been gathering dust in the legislature for more than a year. The PPP put the blame on the majority Democratic Party (DP), which is infamous for its knee-jerk opposition to any proposal from the government or the PPP. Still, the PPP did little to persuade the rival party.

In the meantime, our national debt has swelled over 1,100 trillion won ($813 billion) — and is expected to jump over the 3-percent threshold against GDP this year. A bill to facilitate corporate restructuring also could not be enacted due to the legislature’s reluctance. Companies will face difficulty bouncing back due to the loss of legal grounds for the normalization of companies under a temporary liquidity crunch. But the PPP did not stronlgy push the restructuring bill.

Yet the party is eager to earn votes with a populist move. Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) is drowning in a debt of over 200 trillion won due to an overly cheap power rate, but the PPP repeatedly pressured the government not to raise electricity charges in fear of irking consumers. It is no different from the former administration under the DP, which has turned the state-run utility company into a debt behemoth. Kepco expects an operating loss of around 7 trillion won this year. Its snowballing losses over three consecutive years could haunt consumers later.

The PPP was also insensitive to the heated global chip race. It sat on the sidelines when a proposal to increase tax breaks for chip facility investment last year was compromised to 8 percent due to strong opposition from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The DP proposed a tax exemption of 10 percent at that time. Rep. Yang Hyang-ja lamented that such small government support could kill the Korean chip industry. The PPP decided to lift the exemption rate only after the president ordered greater tax incentives a week later.

The PPP is fooling itself if it thinks it can earn public support with such passiveness and impotence. It has persistently blamed the former government for every negative episode. The PPP deserves an election defeat. Its leader Kim Gi-hyeon has been leading the beleaguered party since March and commanded the latest by-campaign in Seoul. But he has no intention to step down. Without a sweeping overhaul, the PPP has no chance to win back public confidence.