Democrats try to ride on Roh's posthumous popularity to undercut 'summit effect'

Two enlarged banner stand photos featuring two former Presidents, Moon Jae-in and Roh Moo-hyun, stand in front of the late Roh's home in Bongha Village in Gimhae City, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. A ceremony to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Roh's death was held there. Yonhap

Support for ruling party goes up further, hits 50 percent, ahead of June 1 elections

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Dozens of lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and other high-profile politicians flocked to the southeastern city of Gimhae on Monday for a ceremony to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the tragic death of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, Monday. Former President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook also attended the ceremony.

Roh committed suicide. He jumped from a mountain cliff behind his home in the countryside village of Bongha, South Gyeongsang Province on May 23, 2009, amid a corruption investigation of him and his family.

Song Young-gil, the former DPK chairman and now the party's candidate running in the Seoul mayoral election, said he dropped by Bongha Village on Sunday and came back to Seoul early Monday morning. He said on his social media that he had a brief conversation with Kwon Yang-sook, the widow of the late Roh.

Roh was a rare politician having enjoyed fandom-like popularity, while he was alive. His mourning supporters bestowed upon him the nickname "Roh Moo-hyun the fool," ironically earned for being overly frank and warm-hearted. It is said that he was the kind of person who went ahead with doing things if he believed it was the right thing to do, without calculating the gains and losses he would get.

Many politicians are forgotten once they disappear from the public eye. But Roh was different. His popularity survived his death. Every year, his supporters gather in Bongha Village and commemorate the anniversary.

The late liberal president's posthumous popularity has become a glimmer of hope for the DPK that is reeling from the ruling People Power Party's post-summit popularity over a week before the local and by-elections to select mayors, governors, city council members and educational superintendents, as well as eight lawmakers whose seats were made vacant.

The DPK is striving to consolidate supports from liberal voters on the occasion of the anniversary of Roh's death and appeal to their hearts and minds to turn out on Election Day and vote against the ruling PPP.

The liberal party's popularity continues to dwindle since the inauguration of President Yoon Suk-yeol on May 10.

Several banners are hung inside the Bongha Village to commemorate the 13th anniversary of late President Roh Moo-hyun. Yonhap

The situation has gone from bad to worse for the DPK following U.S. President Joe Biden's three-day visit to South Korea, from Friday to Sunday. President Yoon, Biden and the summit have dominated media coverage.

The ruling PPP has been benefitting from a series of positive changes. The latest Realmeter survey shows that support for the conservative party rose 2 percentage points from the previous week, marking 50.1 percent. It's the first time that the PPP has garnered 50 percent or more support in polls taken in the last two years. President Yoon's ratings rose, too. Those who answered he will do a good job in the presidency stood at 54.3 percent, a 3.1 percentage point increase from the previous week. The Realmeter poll was conducted on 2,528 people from May 16 and 20 and has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.

Lee Jae-myung, a DPK candidate running in the June 1 by-election in Incheon's Gyeyang B electoral district after his defeat in the March 9 presidential election, admitted that there seems to be such a thing as a "summit effect" on the June 1 local and by-elections.

"President Yoon's inauguration and the Korea-U.S. summit, these two events seem to have a huge impact on the upcoming elections," he said on a TBS radio show on Monday. "It's like the DPK has been caught in a vicious circle of internal problems and the worsening public opinion toward our party, and there seems to be no way out."

He said his campaign has been negatively affected by the DPK's falling rate. "All DPK candidates are suffering, including myself," he said.

The former DPK presidential candidate was initially expected to easily win the election as it was portrayed as a David vs. Goliath match.

There appeared no good reason for Lee to be defeated. Lee is a national figure, whereas his counterpart Shin Hyun-sun, a physician, is relatively unknown to voters.

The electoral district has long been a stronghold for the liberal party since the National Assembly elections held in 2000. In the March 9 presidential election, Lee was far ahead of Yoon in the region: Lee secured 52.3 percent of all votes cast, whereas Yoon's rate was 43.5 percent.

The polls that were taken immediately after Lee declared a bid to run in the election showed that he was ahead of Yoon with a double-digit margin. But several recent polls found that he and the PPP candidate are competing within a margin of error.

A poll was taken of 880 people of the electoral district by the polling agency STI from May 19 and 20 shows that support for Lee was 45.8 percent, whereas PPP's Yoon scored 49.5 percent support. The poll has a margin of error of 3.3 percent. The survey results are available on the website of the National Election Commission.

Former President Moon Jae-in waves as supporters cheer upon his entry to Bongha Village on Monday. Yonhap