Is it a strategic choice or an opportunistic behavior? The controversy surrounding era-changing lawmaker Jo Jeong-hoon, who announced his decision to join the People Power Party on the 21st of last month, has continued for more than 15 days. Once the merger between the People Power Party and the Changing Times is completed, the views of the political world are mixed regarding Rep. Cho, whose status will be converted to a member of the People Power Party. Representative Cho said on MBC
radio on the 5th, “After working as an opposition party for the past three and a half years, I have concluded that it is not enough to lead the Republic of Korea forward with a small boat called ‘changing the times.’ “Now I wanted to get on a big boat and lead the Republic of Korea forward,” he said, explaining once again why he chose to join the People Power Party. At the same time, regarding former People Power Emergency Response Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in, who is involved in the creation of the new third zone party ‘New Choice’, criticizing him as an ‘opportunist’ the day before, he said, “When I declared my membership, I said, ‘There will be no third zone in next year’s general election.’ “I think he felt embarrassed for doing it.” The ‘opportunist’ controversy arose because Rep. Cho changed his party affiliation a total of four times since entering politics, in the following order: ‘Independent → Democratic Party of Korea → Change of Times → Citizens’ Party of Korea → Change of Times’. He joined the Democratic Party in 2016, left the party ahead of the 2020 general election, founded Era Change, and joined the Democratic Party’s proportional satellite party, the Citizens’ Party, a month later. In the general election, he ran as a proportional representative candidate for the Citizens’ Party, and after being elected, he returned to the changing times.
If you join the People Power Party this time, you will change your party affiliation five times during your seven years of political experience. Rep. Cho said, “There is no businessman who criticizes people who left a large company and started a business by saying, ‘I changed companies twice.’” However, there is criticism from the opposition party that they are “chameleon politicians.” A first-term member of the Democratic Party said, “The public will be cold in their eyes for coming to the Democratic Party to wear a gold badge but ultimately going to the People Power Party.”
Despite this controversy, the reason the ruling party recruited Rep. Cho was because they saw him as a person who would help expand their reach to the moderates. Rep. Cho, who serves on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, attracted attention in February last year by opposing the ‘Complete Prosecution’ (completely depriving the prosecution of investigative rights) bill promoted by the Democratic Party. A former메이저놀이터 certified public accountant who worked at the World Bank is also a factor that attracts attention from 4050 white collar workers. A ruling party official said, “Rep. Cho is an economics and finance expert, so there is a lot of interest from moderates who prefer pragmatism.”
There is also an expectation that the ruling party can present Rep. Cho as a ‘Democratic Party sniper’. He also said on MBC Radio on the 5th, “Has former President Kim Dae-jung ever split like this, or has former President Roh Moo-hyun’s fan club, Nosamo, blindly followed them like ‘dog daughters’ (polar Lee Jae-myung’s supporters)?” and “The Democratic Party is not a party moving forward. “It is a political party that is at a standstill,” he criticized.
On the other hand, a Democratic Party official argued, “If Rep. Cho becomes a member of the People Power Party, his criticism of the Democratic Party will be viewed as ‘green-colored’ and will receive less attention.”