The People Power Party is moving to take the initiative on policy, pressing alternatives on housing difficulties facing young adults, better pay and protections for firefighters, and farmland regulations. Rather than confining itself to criticizing missteps by the government and the ruling party, the opposition is seeking to remake itself as a governing alternative through task forces and legislation. The shift reflects a judgment that winning over young and moderate voters ahead of the 2028 general election requires offering solutions on livelihood issues rather than partisan combat.
According to political sources on the 22nd, the People Power Party recently launched a task force on young adults' housing under its special committee on normalizing the property market, and has signaled it will also form a task force on honoring firefighters' service. The moves appear aimed at elevating two issues into policy agenda items: housing difficulties among young adults, a weak point for the Lee Jae-myung administration, and firefighters' working conditions, which drew controversy after a ruling-bloc figure described fire services as a drain on public finances. Rep. Cho Jung-hoon, who chairs the housing task force, also serves as co-representative of a forum on housing innovation in the greater Seoul area, created to coordinate property policy across the conservative opposition.
Behind the party's push on policy capacity lies a recognition that it must broaden its support base through livelihood alternatives. Although recent polls showing the party ahead of the Democratic Party of Korea have given it an opening, officials judge that highlighting the government's missteps alone has limits in drawing support from young and moderate voters sensitive to livelihood issues. A People Power Party lawmaker from a Seoul constituency said, "People in their 20s, 30s and early 40s judge and act on what is practical and tangible rather than on ideology."
Within the opposition, the emphasis is that easing housing difficulties for young adults requires going beyond expanding housing supply to revising lending and tax rules, lowering housing costs and widening opportunities to build assets. The party plans to begin rolling out related policy proposals as early as November. Unlike the government and ruling party, which have emphasized public housing supply and curbing demand, the opposition is expected to focus on easing lending thresholds and tax burdens to widen young adults' chances of buying a first home.
Improving conditions for firefighters has emerged as another pillar of the policy offensive. Rather than stopping at rebuking Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae over her remark about fire services draining finances, the party says it will put forward alternatives that strengthen the central government's responsibility for fire service funding. The planned task force on honoring firefighters' service has set out three priorities: strengthening the central government's responsibility for fire services, supporting firefighter safety, and assisting the families of firefighters killed in the line of duty. Rep. Kim Jae-sup of the People Power Party has sponsored an amendment to the fire service funding law that would have firefighters' salaries covered by the central government's general account.
On farmland policy, the party has moved to claim the agenda through its own legislation, countering the government's follow-up measures to a comprehensive farmland survey. Rep. Kang Seung-kyu of the People Power Party, the opposition liaison on the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, has drafted an amendment to the Farmland Act that would permit farmland leasing in principle and sharply ease restrictions on entrusted farm management. Rep. Yoon Yong-geun has also introduced an amendment requiring the government to submit its farmland survey plan and related budget to the National Assembly. The two bills drew 29 and 26 People Power Party lawmakers, respectively, as co-sponsors.
The legislation is seen as a bid to claim the farmland policy agenda by putting forward alternative bills ahead of the special measures law the government is pursuing as a follow-up to the farmland survey. People Power Party members of the agriculture committee also focused during this year's parliamentary audit of government agencies on confusion in rural areas during the farmland survey and on hardships for farmers who actually work the land caused by farmland leasing restrictions.