Politics Left Alone in Opposition Benches After Everyone Else Departed…Jo Gyeong-tae's 'Same Scene for 11 Years'

On the 2nd at the National Assembly plenary session hall, as President Lee Jae-myung's policy address on the 2027 budget concluded, members of the People Power Party all left their seats en masse.

Before the speech, they held a picket protest in front of the rotunda, maintained a silent protest during the session, and even interrupted the speech with jeers for some 40 seconds. Left standing alone in the now-empty opposition benches was one person. Rep. Jo Gyeong-tae. After finishing his address, President Lee walked toward the opposition benches and shook hands with him.

In an interview with a media outlet, Rep. Jo said, "Even when the head of state of another country visits, everyone stands and shows courtesy," adding he had shown "respect to the president." He called this "a basic virtue of a politician."

Eleven Years Ago, Thirteen Years Ago

A familiar scene. Thirteen years earlier, on October 27, 2015, when President Park Geun-hye delivered a policy address in the midst of the state history textbook controversy, not a single round of applause came from the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy benches. In the midst of the silent protest, Rep. Jo Gyeong-tae stood alone and applauded.

At the time, he said, "The speech is over—isn't applauding common sense and courtesy?" During President Park Geun-hye's first policy address in 2013, he was also the only Democratic Party member to stand. In 2013 and 2015, as an opposition member toward a conservative administration president, and in 2026 as an opposition member toward a progressive administration president, he performed the same action all three times.

Even As Party Affiliation Changed, 'Marked' Records Remained the Same

In between, his party affiliation changed. Having served six consecutive terms representing Saha-gu, Busan District 2, he left the Democratic Party on January 16, 2016, and joined the Saenuri Party two days later. 'Marked' records remained evenly distributed between both parties.

During his Democratic Party days in 2015, he immediately demanded Moon Jae-in's resignation over his reconfirmation card, striking directly with "I need to die to know what the underworld tastes like," and that July, 342 party delegates and members requested disciplinary action against him.

In the People Power Party, after publicly supporting impeachment, he fired back at party discipline calls by asking "Is the party name now the Rebellion Power Party?", and at last year's party convention he lost in the final round amid calls of "traitor." He wrote, "How is someone who protected liberal democracy a traitor?"

Had he followed the mainstream current in either party, there might have been an easier path. Instead, he chose uncomfortable seats in both. And in both, he repeated the same principle. Opposition is expressed through voting and statements, but respect for the head of state is maintained as respect.

Opposition Also Knew No Party Affiliation

Opposition too knew no party affiliation. In 2013, in his capacity as fellow party vice chairperson, he directly criticized Rep. Moon Jae-in's "proposal to resolve the NLL controversy" as "the height of irresponsibility," and during the Moon Jae-in administration, he stood on the podium at anti-government rallies as opposition vice chairperson.

During the December 2024 martial law crisis, he climbed over the National Assembly fence on the day the emergency was declared and participated in the vote to lift it, becoming the first People Power Party member to publicly declare support for impeachment, stating "The president must immediately suspend his duties." During the first vote, he briefly held his position by joining his party's walkout in line with party leadership's wishes, but in the second vote, he reportedly cast an affirmative vote. He did not give preferential treatment to his party's president, nor did he diminish the opposition party's president.

Views on his actions that day are divided. Both within and outside his party, criticism can arise that he broke ranks alone while the party expressed its opposition through silent protest, and indeed he faced pushback from his party's supporters in similar moments in the past. However, the facts revealed by the record are clear. Three administrations changed, his party affiliation changed, yet his conduct in the policy address hall has not changed once.

When everyone stood, he sat alone. When everyone left, he remained alone. Eleven years ago, he called the reason common sense; today he called it respect. The seat and the other party changed, but the sentence remained the same.