- Outraged over real estate tax reform and State Council jokes
- "Not a final proposal?" Dropped hints on supplementary investigative authority as well
- Government set policy and passed buck to ruling party… Modify it directly
- Cause of President Lee's falling approval rating? Repeating mistakes of failed past administrations
- Ruling party has a deep pool, but narrow management focused only on hardcore supporters
- People Power Party fails to gain reflected benefits? Lack of struggle fit for the main opposition party
- Party innovation plan? Should not follow Democratic Party's member-centric approach
- Countering resignation signatures with support signatures? An 'eye for an eye' response from the '80s
- Jang Dong-hyeok must pursue leadership of unity… Must not drift away from the public
- Vote of confidence? Forces driving change within party have run dry
- Unnecessary even in principle… He must judge and take responsibility himself
■ Broadcast: SBS Kim Tae-hyeon's Political Show (FM 103.5MHz 7:00 – 9:00)
■ Date: August 12, 2026 (Wed)
■ Host: Attorney Kim Tae-hyeon
■ Guest: Kim Sung-tae, former People Power Party lawmaker
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Today, who made him so angry, with what issue, and why? Meeting him on Wednesday, "Angry Sung-tae," former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sung-tae. Hello, lawmaker.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Hello.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Lawmaker, who is it this week?
▶Kim Sung-tae: This week, it has to be the Lee Jae-myung administration, which angered the public through practical tax hikes via real estate tax reform. And as public opinion deteriorated and people's anger and frustration boiled over, telling the Minister of Planning and Budget / Deputy Prime Minister for Economy to "crawl around." And the President making comments almost like jokes in a serious setting like the State Council meeting—that really made me angry.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Yes.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Through this real estate tax reform, so many tenants and single-home owners are losing sleep thinking, "What should I do now? Do I really have to sell my home? Or do I have to kick out my tenants and move in myself, as the government's conclusion suggests I live there, and match their policy?" They can't sleep at night. Yet, if the President recognized the severity of this given the intense public reaction and various media reports, then during this advance notice period for legislation, the Presidential Office, the government, and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea should gather strength together to figure out what the public wants, what the problem with this real estate tax reform was, and what revised and improved proposal should be finalized into law. But instead, they just threw it out there, and when public opinion worsened and frustration grew, telling them to crawl around on their own. A president shouldn't act this way.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: First of all, what the President said at yesterday's State Council meeting was this: "The Minister of Finance and Economy should know this. Anyone who touches taxes is bound to get cursed at." Then he joked, "Just crawl around no matter what." And Deputy Prime Minister Koo reportedly laughed and replied, "Yes, I understand." That's what was reported. Yesterday, the President also said, "This is not the government's final draft. It is a process of listening to sufficient feedback, revising it once more, submitting it to the National Assembly, and having lawmakers discuss, modify, and supplement it to improve its completeness." In the government's view, if public opinion worsens and the government proposal isn't absolute, isn't changing it better than stubbornly sticking to the original draft in the first place?
▶Kim Sung-tae: There was another incident regarding this that our citizens had high expectations for last time.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: What was that?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Supplementary investigative authority.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: I know about that, of course.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Even in the controversy over supplementary investigative authority, President Lee Jae-myung maintained that, even if very limited, supplementary investigative authority must be retained to prevent major chaos in the criminal justice system. And that a certain degree of checks over police investigations must be exercised.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Yes.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Then, even if his home party, the Democratic Party, tried to wrap up the complete stripping of prosecutorial investigative powers for political interests, and even if he was someone who went along with that tune before, once he became President and ran state affairs, he should have realized it wasn't right. While there certainly were abuses and problems among some political prosecutors over 78 years, dismantling the prosecution in this manner is not right. Shouldn't a president with that level of strong determination and leadership—even if candidates ahead of the August 17 national convention, especially candidate Jung Cheong-rae, emphasize their clarity—push through resistance from his own supporting faction for the sake of the public? I had expectations for that.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So you're criticizing him because he failed to do that.
▶Kim Sung-tae: In the end, what happened? The President dropped many such hints, but in the end, it was bound to go as the party decides and legislates. This issue is the exact same.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: What about this issue?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Real estate tax reform is the same. This isn't something the party committed. It was a policy and conclusion made after long deliberation by the government, and the President held real estate debate sessions twice. If public opinion worsens like this, he shouldn't just hint that his home party, the Democratic Party, will fix it during the advance notice period for legislation.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Rather than that, either withdraw it completely and start over.
▶Kim Sung-tae: This is precisely a situation where he should tell the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy that since there were such problems, through party-government consultations, the Democratic Party should also cooperate to a certain extent with our government's revision and reform...
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So he should have more actively instructed them to revise it on their own or withdraw it entirely.
▶Kim Sung-tae: He shouldn't proceed like this. That's the part that made me angry. A president shouldn't act like that.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So you see it as passing the responsibility onto someone else?
▶Kim Sung-tae: That's right. How many political powers and regimes have collapsed due to tax resistance? Even Thatcher in the UK, a prime minister who led a solid cabinet for 11 years, ultimately collapsed after introducing the poll tax.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Tax hikes and elections don't go well together by nature.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Exactly. How was Louis XVI's royal power ruined in the end? Ultimately, it was because of tax hikes and taxes.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Then do you believe the President will ultimately modify this policy? In some form.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Right now, the Presidential Office takes it somewhat complacently regarding the issue of tax inequality, regressivity, and loss of fairness. They think, "We just did pinpoint tax increases on non-resident high-value property owners in the Gangnam area, so what's the problem? We lowered taxes for most others." But that's not how it works.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Understood. Currently, the President's approval ratings aren't great. The trend itself is downward. I won't mention specific numbers, but if you had to pick just one reason among many, what would it be?
▶Kim Sung-tae: I think President Lee Jae-myung needs to change the pattern and style of his personnel appointments and administration of state affairs.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: How so?
▶Kim Sung-tae: He is repeating the mistakes of failed past administrations. A year ago on this broadcast, I said that President Lee Jae-myung seemed much more prepared than expected and seemed to want to do well, starting off that way.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: You praised him quite a bit at the beginning of his term.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Yes. But look at this just one year later. If it's not a government that at least looks at the public, it should at least be a government that looks at the Democratic Party. But looking at the current way of running state affairs, I worry that a narrow framework of governance is being established by a small group of people.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So, let alone the general public, it's not even looking at Democratic Party supporters, but going forward looking only at a small group of hardcore supporters within the party.
▶Kim Sung-tae: There's a tendency to be overly conscious of them. Looking at personnel appointments alone, are those key inner-circle figures of President Lee Jae-myung the only ones with the capability and ability to judge and make decisions? I don't think so. The Democratic Party's talent pool is large.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: They have 160 lawmakers.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Exactly. Even if you set aside the pro-Lee Jae-myung and pro-Jung factions in the party, there are many good resources. They can be used broadly. Furthermore, since they call themselves a government of national unity, center-pragmatism, there are so many good people in the conservative camp of the People Power Party as well. That's how talent recruitment should be approached broadly. The same goes for state affairs management. Why repeat the exact same steps of former President Moon Jae-in, whose housing price policies failed? All 28 real estate measures failed one after another. President Lee Jae-myung tried to avoid overissuing policies, setting the mood through his X account. And now he has issued about five policies, but doing so through real estate tax reform... Where in the world is a government that tries to stabilize housing prices by restricting loans and raising taxes?
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Understood. So the President's approval rating is dropping, the Democratic Party's national convention is in chaos, the supplementary investigative authority issue blew up, and the reaction to the real estate tax reform doesn't seem great either, with opposition coming from within the ruling party as well. In this situation, the People Power Party should be gaining massive reflected benefits, but it isn't. Right?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Isn't it tiresome to talk about that all the time on this show? The main opposition party severely lacks seats in the National Assembly under a dominant ruling party setup. So no matter how hard People Power Party lawmakers struggle and fight in the National Assembly, it lacks effectiveness. At times like this, if the main opposition party holds the administration in check, criticizes it, and responds to the runaway giant legislative power backed by public opinion, the Democratic Party would never act like this.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: But right now, you aren't getting public support.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Then what should be done? As the party that produced President Yoon Suk Yeol, showing a stance of fulfilling political responsibility regarding December 3 of two years ago. To do that, the party must constantly move toward self-cleansing, change, and reform. Every time issues arise—like abolishing supplementary investigative authority, real estate tax reform, the controversy over replacing buses with youth housing raised by lawmaker Hwang Hee representing Yangcheon-mokdong, and now revelations coming out from the parliamentary investigation into the shortage of voting ballots—there should be momentum created to make people feel, "We really need to empower the main opposition party." But while doing that on one hand, inside the party there is talk of disciplinary action and strengthening party leadership. When that happens, the struggle or politics of the main opposition party becomes invisible.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Ultimately, you speak of party change, reform, and self-cleansing, meaning the party needs to be reformed.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Yes.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Representative Jang says he will do that too. Announcing a party reform plan around his first anniversary in office, about 26 days after taking office. Talking about a party-member-centric party and such. Does that align with the direction of party reform you are thinking of, or is it going in the completely opposite direction?
▶Kim Sung-tae: I am also looking forward to seeing what vision and party innovation plan he will present.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Do you really have expectations?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Of course, one should have expectations. The party isn't making any changes.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Because he talked about a party-member-centric party, as reported.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Look at why the Democratic Party today has such huge conflict at its August 17 national convention. It is attracting attention, yes, but there is concern about whether a ruling party should act like that. Why are public concerns arising? Because it's a battle over political direction. In the debate over legitimacy, there are those who question whether President Lee Jae-myung is the legitimate successor of the Democratic Party. And those people are trying to become party leader, claiming they are the true successor. Can such people harmonize with President Lee Jae-myung's new paradigm of 'New Lee Jae-myung' political landscape? From that perspective, they say no. Someone who served as prime minister for a year says, "I can work well in tandem with President Lee Jae-myung." That's why immense confusion is being created.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So isn't PPP Representative Jang Dong-hyeok's member-centric party reform direction similar to that?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Jung Cheong-rae is trying to maintain appeal among hardcore supporters through a member-centric party to seize party leadership and back President Lee Jae-myung with his own power and will, not necessarily according to President Lee Jae-myung's will.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So Representative Jang Dong-hyeok is trying to do that too.
▶Kim Sung-tae: So our party is in the same situation. Even if the ruling party talks about member-sovereignty-centric reforms, I don't think we need to emulate that at all.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So we shouldn't do that.
▶Kim Sung-tae: The next goal of an opposition party is to regain power. To regain power, we must transform the party's structure to incorporate more of the public's voice. Naturally, both in the Democratic Party and our party, active, hardcore members demand stronger conservative coloring if it's a conservative party, and in doing so, we lose expandability toward moderates and unaffiliated voters. Therefore, an opposition party needs a structural transformation into a party that embraces the voice of the public.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: You're saying we shouldn't go member-centric. But in this situation...
▶Kim Sung-tae: Even if we go member-centric, I'm saying the party must not create a wide gap with the general public.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Understood. But in this situation, around 27,000 people, including some PPP committed party members and general citizens, signed a petition demanding Representative Jang Dong-hyeok step down and proposing an all-member vote, as a committed party member named Park In-gyu held a press conference yesterday. In response, over 30,000 supporters of Representative Jang launched a counter-signature drive. How do you view this situation? Has something like this ever happened before?
▶Kim Sung-tae: In fact, there have been almost no cases where committed party members stepped forward to demand the party leader's resignation by circulating signature petitions.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: None, right?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Yes, almost none.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: On top of that, there's even a counter-signature drive expressing support.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Since there hasn't been such a case, responding in a physical, 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' manner like, "If you have 27,000, we'll get 100,000 to overpower you"—isn't that an old-fashioned method from the '80s?
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: An old-fashioned method from the '80s?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Yes. So rather than that, even if that is a voice and demand from a section within the party, the party can lead with leadership focused on integration.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So that such voices wouldn't even come out.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Setting aside those voices, saying, "I will fulfill my term until next August. Although the result of the June 3 election was what it was, and my responsibility is heavy, the party must not fall into chaos. Instead, I will build a leadership of unity so that we can win the next general election in 2028 and reclaim the presidency by becoming a party closer to the public." If such a reform vision expressing determination is presented for the first anniversary, conflicts like this can be resolved.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: What about the all-member vote? Representative Jang once briefly mentioned something similar in the past. Is it necessary now? Should a vote be called to settle it?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Actually, right after the June 3 election, when voices demanding the leadership's resignation came out not only from incumbent National Assembly members but also some senior lawmakers, there was an atmosphere in the core party leadership thinking, "If we hold out and can't handle it, we might go to an all-member vote of confidence."
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Back then?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Yes, back then. But in a situation like now, there isn't even a need for that because the forces driving actual change and reform within our party are almost exhausted.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Senior lawmakers are quiet.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Is there senior politics like this in South Korea? Whether the party goes to the mountains, rivers, or seas, as long as red lights don't flash on their nomination for the 2028 general election... That's why we have a situation like this now.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: So in conclusion, is an all-member vote necessary right now, or is it unreasonable?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Right now, from Representative Jang Dong-hyeok's perspective, even if there are demands from some, the Committed Party Member Association isn't an official party organ.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: There's no reason to accept it?
▶Kim Sung-tae: Also, he would probably think, "Why should I accept demands from a small group?" He probably won't accept it at all.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Representative Jang Dong-hyeok won't accept it?
▶Kim Sung-tae: I don't think he will accept it at all.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: From a principled standpoint, is it necessary? From a principled standpoint, should it be done? Setting reality aside.
▶Kim Sung-tae: It shouldn't be done in that manner. Politics is not about enforcing responsibility through physical force; that is not the way of a democratic party. What matters in politics is making decisions based on moral duty and putting the party first.
▷Kim Tae-hyeon: Understood. We'll end here today. This was former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sung-tae. Thank you.
▶Kim Sung-tae: Thank you.
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