The author is a senior editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.
President Lee Jae Myung declined to exercise his veto against the so-called three judicial reform bills—introducing constitutional complaints against court rulings, creating the crime of distortion of law and expanding the number of Supreme Court justices—and instead approved them at a Cabinet meeting.

Warnings from Chief Justice Jo Hee-de that the measures could directly harm citizens, along with criticism from former presidents of the Korean Bar Association who described the legislation as a fundamental blow to the judicial structure and the separation of powers, were ultimately set aside.
Holding both executive and legislative power, the ruling bloc pushed the measures through despite objections from the judiciary and revised the framework of an 80-year-old judicial system in ways critics say favor those in power. That is precisely what many observers view as an infringement on the principle of separation of powers. Whether the intended beneficiary is President Lee or someone else does not change the underlying concern.
Lee's swift decision may not be unrelated to the low approval ratings of the People Power Party, the main opposition force. A survey released in late February showed the party's support at 17 percent. The figure came from the National Barometer Survey conducted by Embrain Public, KStat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research and released on Feb. 26. The number is even lower than the party's rating during the Dec. 3 martial law crisis in 2024, when its support stood at 26 percent.
Song Eon-seog, floor leader of the People Power Party, condemned the passage of the judicial reform bills in the National Assembly and warned that "dictatorship has already begun." Whether the current administration should be described as authoritarian will likely depend on political affiliation. The more notable reality is that many polls show support for the Democratic Party roughly double that of the People Power Party, while approval ratings for President Lee's administration exceed 60 percent.
Political parties do not operate solely according to polling numbers. Yet the fact that the People Power Party's support is far lower today than during the martial law crisis demands attention. The 17 percent figure likely reflects disappointment and anger among moderate conservatives and centrist voters who believe the party has failed, even after more than a year, to move beyond the legacy of martial law and the impeachment crisis that followed.
Many people regarded the declaration of emergency martial law as the delusional decision of former President Yoon Suk Yeol alone. In fact 18 lawmakers from the People Power Party voted in the National Assembly to lift the martial law order and the party itself was not involved in planning it. A clean break with Yoon therefore seemed the natural next step.
Instead party leader Jang Dong-hyeok refused to sever ties. Supporters who defended martial law and opposed Yoon's impeachment, sometimes described as the "Yoon Again" faction, soon gathered around the leadership. For many voters who had hoped the party would return to a more conventional conservative stance, that decision became the turning point that drove them away.
Several developments in the party have puzzled observers. One concerns the leadership's reading of public sentiment. Jang reportedly told lawmakers that internal polling showed more than 70 percent of People Power Party supporters opposed the life sentence handed down to Yoon and urged the party to focus on consolidating its base.
Elections, however, are not won with core supporters alone. Without support from centrist voters, victory becomes nearly impossible. Surveys suggest that among centrists 45 percent consider the life sentence too lenient while 31 percent view it as appropriate. Another poll found that 71 percent of centrists regard the Dec. 3 martial law declaration as an act of insurrection.

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