PPP leader Han Dong-hoon's popularity rises despite tensions: Poll

According to a Gallup Korea survey conducted between Jan. 23 and 25, 52 percent of the 1,001 people surveyed, aged 18 or older, gave a positive evaluation of Han, while 40 percent rated him negatively.

People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon, left, and President Yoon Suk Yeol visits a traditional market in South Chungcheon onTuesday. The market was destroyed from a fire that happened the previous night. [YONHAP]

The popularity of Han Dong-hoon, the interim leader of the People Power Party (PPP), is rising despite tensions with his former boss, President Yoon Suk Yeol.

According to a Gallup Korea survey conducted between Jan. 23 and 25, 52 percent of the 1,001 people surveyed, aged 18 or older, gave a positive evaluation of Han, while 40 percent rated him negatively.

The survey company drew parallels between the public support for Han and the surge in popularity experienced by former president Park Geun-hye when she also led the party as an interim leader more than a decade ago.

In March 2012, Park received a 52 percent positive review, with only 24 percent responding negatively.

That year the Saenuri Party, led by Park, won the general election, securing 152 seats, or 50.7 percent, compared to the rival Democratic Party, which obtained 127 seats, or 42.3 percent.

Support for Han within the party is especially strong, with 89 percent favoring the current leader and only 9 percent expressing opposition.

The level of support for Han surpasses even that of the two previous leaders of the party, Lee Jun-seok and Kim Gi-hyeon.

Lee received 37 percent support, while Kim garnered less than 30 percent during his tenure.

President Yoon’s support in the recent poll was down 1 percentage point from the previous week, falling to 31 percent. His negative evaluations, however, increased by 5 percentage points, reaching 63 percent.

While the issue of the economy and inflation was the primary factor contributing to the sharp increase in negative evaluations of the president, accounting for 16 percent, followed by lack of communication at 11 percent, the handling of the controversy surrounding the first lady, Kim Keon Hee, has emerged as a major contributor.

Among those who responded negatively to President Yoon, 9 percent attributed their dissatisfaction to the controversy over the first lady, causing a notable 7-percentage-point increase within just one week.

The latest survey results were announced on the heels of earlier tensions between Han and Yoon over the allegation against the first lady, Kim Keon Hee, receiving a 3-million-won ($2,000) Christian Dior bag from a Korean American pastor as a gift in September 2022.

A liberal YouTube news channel, Voice of Seoul, on Nov. 29 aired a secretly taped video of Kim receiving the gift from the pastor, which the YouTubers themselves had purchased.

The same group of YouTubers had previously covertly recorded numerous phone conversations with the first lady when President Yoon was running as a PPP candidate in the 2022 presidential election, later releasing them publicly during the election.

The president's office has refused to address the issue, asserting that the YouTubers had staged the situation with malicious intent.

However, tensions between President Yoon and Han surfaced when one of the party's emergency steering committee members picked by Han compared the first lady to Marie Antoinette and raised the need to address the bag issue, citing parallels with the lead up to the French Revolution.

Han was Yoon's justice minister and his subordinate when they worked together at the prosecutors' office.

The two men appeared to have resolved their differences when both showed up at a disaster site on Tuesday, where a fire from the previous night had destroyed an entire traditional market.

The survey conducted on Friday also revealed that Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung continues to face challenges in expanding public support ahead of the general election.

The DP leader received 35 percent support compared to a 59 percent opposition.

Although an improvement compared to the survey conducted two months earlier, Lee's support has remained within the 30 percent range.

Among DP party supporters, Lee has a 69 percent approval rate.

Lee has been dealing with an internal feud within his party, particularly as his supporters have been engaging in hostilities against Moon Jae-in supporters or individuals challenging Lee's leadership.

On Jan. 10, more than a week after Lee was attacked by an assailant, three of the party's prominent lawmakers — Cho Eung-cheon, Kim Jong-min and Lee Won-wook — decided to leave the party, citing concerns over the moral decay within the party.

The former party leader, Lee Nak-yon, also left the party to establish his own.

However, lawmakers who claim loyalty to Lee continued to attack fellow party members perceived as less supportive of the party leader.

The party is also facing accusations of bending its previous internal rules to allow Lee, despite his prior convictions including drunk driving and ongoing legal cases, to run in the upcoming election.

Support for both parties remains closely contested, with the PPP holding steady at 36 percent, maintaining the same level of support for three consecutive weeks, while the DP received 35 percent support, a 2-percentage-point increase from the previous week.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]