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Cho Kuk (second from left), head of the Rebuilding Korea Party’s Innovation Policy Institute, speaks during the party’s supreme council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on September 1. / Rebuilding Korea Party

Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party’s Innovation Policy Institute, attended a supreme council meeting on September 1 for the first time since receiving a special pardon. He declared a full-scale “reboot” of the party, branding the ruling People Power Party (PPP) as the “mainstream far right” and vowing that his party would serve as the “hammer line” to break it down. The party is expected to hold a convention in November to accelerate Cho’s return as party leader.

At the meeting, Cho argued that although “Yoon Suk Yeol has been defeated, the far-right forces that supported him remain intact and are plotting a comeback.” He added, “We must become the hammer line that smashes the far-right PPP.” Cho also said the party must “evolve into one that reads not just the weather of the day but the climate of the times,” signaling sweeping reforms.

Outlining his “Rebuilding Korea Party Reboot” initiative, Cho proposed three directions: advancing reforms in livelihoods, politics, and human rights; strengthening internal capacity and expanding outreach; and serving as a “link tank” to carry forward progressive democratic discourse. “We will return to the founding spirit and move forward steadily without being swayed by ups and downs,” he said.

The party also approved the formation of a preparatory committee to organize a mid-November convention. The move is seen as a step toward ending the current emergency leadership structure and shifting to a formal “Cho Kuk leadership system.”

Party leaders rallied around Cho’s “hammer line” vision. Floor leader Seo Wang-jin declared that “the first priority is strong judgment and dismantling of the PPP, the ‘coup d’état demons’ who condoned and abetted insurrection.” He pledged that the Rebuilding Korea Party’s 12 lawmakers would act as “coup d’état demon hunters” at the forefront of this effort.

Acting party leader Kim Sun-min reaffirmed commitment to completing prosecutorial reform, stressing, “The fundamental principle of prosecutorial reform is the separation of investigation and indictment. In difficult times, we must return to our original mission. The Rebuilding Korea Party will not waver and will see prosecutorial reform through to the end.”