Multiple senior members of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration and the head of his People Power Party (PPP) tendered their resignations on Thursday after vote counts confirmed that the left-wing Democratic Party decisively took over the National Assembly in Wednesday’s midterm election.

The Democrats overcame a chaotic campaign season in which leader Lee Jae-myung survived a would-be assassin stabbing him in the neck. The day he was released from the hospital, three members of his party defected, protesting that Lee was running an authoritarian and corrupt “regime” within the party. Lee was in court on Tuesday for a hearing addressing criminal charges in which he stands accused of bribery and other corruption during his term as mayor of Seongnam.

Aiding the Democratic Party is the growing unpopularity of the PPP under Yoon. Yoon is facing his own corruption scandal – wife Kim Keon-hee was allegedly caught on video accepting a $2,200 Dior bag as an illicit gift – and soured public sentiment against himself by claiming during a supermarket visit that the price of green onions was reasonable.

Voters interpreted his observation, which omitted that the government was forced to intervene to suppress inflation of scallion prices, as an indication that he was woefully out of touch with the difficulties average Koreans are facing in his economy.

As of Thursday, authorities confirmed the Democratic Party taking 161 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly, the federal legislature, and in total controls 175 seats, including associated political parties that compete in the few seats elected via proportional representation. The PPP, meanwhile, holds 90 seats and controls 108 when counting associated parties.

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon (R) joins hands with Seoul-based American physician John Linton (L), Korean name Ihn Yohan, who is in charge of the PPP’s innovation committee, during their campaign event on the eve of the parliamentary elections in Seoul on April 9, 2024. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)

The South Korean news agency Yonhap noted that the election was highly contested, attracting the largest voter turnout in 32 years. An estimated 67 percent of eligible voters came to the polls on Wednesday.

Following the election results, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reportedly tendered his resignation. Yoon’s office confirmed that all senior presidential aides in positions not related to national security had also offered to resign. It is unclear at press time if Yoon accepted any or all of the resignations, though he is expected to.

PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, who took over the party in December and was previously viewed as a rising star in conservative politics, also resigned. In a press conference, Han declared, “the public opinion is always right” and issued a direct apology for the results of the election.

“On behalf of our party, I apologize for not being chosen by the people. I accept the meaning of the results sternly and am deeply reflecting on myself,” Han said. “I will take full responsibility for the election results and step down from my position.”
“I hope that the promise of political reform that we made to the people will be implemented without interruption, and I will consider how I can regain the trust of the people,” he added.

Political analysis in Korean media suggested that Han’s political career is likely over in the short term, but that he may make a return after many years of “self-examination.” Han did not state in his public remarks what he plans to do after leading the PPP.

Yoon himself issued a statement on the election through chief of staff Lee Kwan-seop, one of the officials who resigned on Thursday.

“I will humbly accept the will of the people expressed in the general election, and will strive to reform the administration and do my best to stabilize the economy and enhance people’s livelihoods,” the statement read.

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader, appeared to accept that his victory was not the result of overwhelming popular support for him but, rather, negative sentiment against Yoon.

Supporters raise their phone torches during a campaign rally for South Korea’s ruling People Power Party (PPP), on the eve of the parliamentary elections in Seoul on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)

“The voters’ choice is a judgment of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration,” Lee said on Thursday. “As the voters have demanded, I will try my best to stop the regression of the country’s state affairs and make it move toward the future once again.”
Lee was the Democratic Party candidate for president in 2022, narrowly losing to Yoon in one of the most bitterly contested presidential races in the country in recent memory.

Yoon entered the presidency with low approval ratings, but will now have to contend with the National Assembly blocking much of his domestic agenda given the opposition majority. Yoon is term-limited, meaning he cannot run for reelection and will government with this same Assembly through the end of his presidency.

The Korea JoongAng Daily suggested that Yoon may also face opposition internally from successful PPP candidates in the midterms who want to avoid being associated with him out of fear it will hurt their popularity.

“Perhaps mindful of Yoon’s chronically low approval ratings, which have rarely broken 40 percent since he was sworn into office, some PPP candidates had called on the president to reduce his involvement in politics and focus on state affairs even before the election,” the newspaper observed. “Those calls will only grow louder if the PPP perceives its ties to Yoon could imperil its chances of winning the presidency in 2027.”

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