After the 'King Janggu,' a Royal Gong: Jang Dong-hyuk's Indomitable Drumbeat

Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, was playing a drum at the 'vote-counting blockade rally' in front of the handball stadium at Seoul's Olympic Park in Songpa District on the evening of the 3rd when the head of his drumstick flew off. He then wrote the words 'Freedom and Hope. Cheers to Olympic Park citizens' directly on the drum himself. Jang attended the 'National Rally for Judging the Lee Jae-myung Regime, Restoring Livelihoods, and Protecting Security' held around Sungnyemun Gate in Jung District, Seoul, earlier that day before heading to the evening rally site. Having played ordinary-sized drums at rallies many times before, this time he took up a large drum known as a daego. About five minutes in, the drumstick head flew off and he could no longer keep playing, so he used a pen handed to him to write "Freedom and Hope. Cheers to Olympic Park citizens" on the drum. He then joined the crowd in chanting slogans including "Same-day voting and manual recount to undo the rigged election," "Resume Lee Jae-myung's trial," "Defend the Republic of Korea," and "Cheers to Olympic Park citizens."

The Democratic Party of Korea criticized his actions. In a written briefing on the 4th titled 'Is Jang Dong-hyuk's politics nothing but beating drums and shouting?', Park Sung-jun, the party's chief spokesperson, blasted: "Ignoring pressing issues and the struggling economy, he devotes himself solely to shouting from street rallies and beating drums. Has he perhaps come down with habitual street-rally syndrome?" Park retorted, "What has he actually done besides hitting the streets at every opportunity, peddling election-fraud conspiracy theories, and turning the ethics committee into a Red Guard to purge his opponents?" He noted, "All that street demagoguery can reap is the hollow cheers of the far-right base." He added, "Even now, he should stop and return to the National Assembly to do the work he was elected to do. We urge him to cooperate in crafting policies and alternatives for the people's livelihoods."

Criticism also came from within his own party and the wider political world. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party pointed out, "There are truly many regrettable aspects to how it looked to the public when he turned his back on floor politics and went to the square just to bang drums and wave a megaphone." Rep. Han Dong-hoon, now an independent, also posted on Facebook on the 25th of last month: "If you hate seeing conservatives fight and win, then by all means keep wearing your oversized medallion and banging drums."