PPP lawmaker says entire Cabinet should resign over general elections defeat

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former presidential election coalition partner of President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Friday the entire Cabinet and all top presidential aides should offer to resign en masse in the wake of the massive election defeat by the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

Ahn, who won reelection in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections, said in a radio interview that collective resignations are necessary to bring fresh and competitive people into the Cabinet and the presidential office.

“All should step down voluntarily,” he said on MBC radio.

The PPP suffered a crushing defeat in the elections, winning only 108 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and the anti-Yoon Rebuilding Korea Party secured 175 and 12 seats, respectively.

The results illustrated the seriously soured public sentiment toward the Yoon administration just two years after he came into office, with the PPP barely managing to prevent the broader opposition bloc from taking a two-thirds majority.

“We should very humbly take the people’s rebuke,” Ahn said.

When asked what he thought of the resignation offers made by Yoon’s senior aides, Ahn said it was appropriate but a belated call, and that all Cabinet members, including the presidential director of national security, should resign.

“Innovation and a complete overhaul in the direction of state affairs are necessary,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ahn expressed his intent to vote for a special probe bill pushed by the DP on allegations that Yoon’s office and the Ministry of Defense inappropriately interfered in a military investigation into a young Marine’s death last year.

The bill has been pending in parliament since early this month, after the DP unilaterally designated it as a fast-track bill with expedited deliberations.

On the opposition’s special investigation proposal on the allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee, including suspicions she was involved in a stock price manipulation case, he said the proposal is something to be discussed after the prosecution investigation closes.

The doctor-turned-lawmaker and former co-chief of the PPP’s campaign committee was reelected for another four years in the fiercely contested Bundang-A district in Gyeonggi Province, surrounding Seoul.

He is considered a presidential candidate and a potential contender for the PPP’s next chairman, following the resignation of Han Dong-hoon on Thursday.