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Wrote on the slightly farcical conservative party renaming with fellow 
@SimonVoget https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/south-korean-conservatives-rebrand-again-in-attempted-makeover/
@SimonVoget https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/south-korean-conservatives-rebrand-again-in-attempted-makeover/
The frequency of party rebranding has been criticised for a long time but it is seemingly still one of the blunter tools at party leadership's disposal in times of factional realignment, scandal, or electoral defeat. https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/03/22/2012032201724.html
For the conservatives this is the 3rd rebrand since Park Geun-hye's 2017 impeachment, and comes less than 7 months since adopting 'United Future Party' in February this year. http://news.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0014962395&code=61111111&sid1=pol
It wasn't always like this though, the conservatives used to be the stable half of the two-party equation, sticking with their post-IMF-crisis Hannara (US Republican inspired 'Grand National Party' in English) name from 1997 until 2012. https://www.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/A2020082609140003519?did=DA
2012 was Lee Myung-bak's last year in office & Park Geun-hye was turn as conservative candidate. Factional shift so Hannara -> Saenuri ("new world", no English version). Suspicion from some that the name was inspired by the infamous Shincheonji cult. http://m.kmib.co.kr/view.asp?arcid=0011087554
Saenuri had a run of 5 years, until conservatives desperately needed a post-conservative disassociation with the toxic Park brand in 2017. Scandal/factional realignment = Saenuri -> Korea Liberty Party. A more conventional conservative party name that echoes previous iterations.
Rebranding didn't save the party & they were flattened in 2017 & 2018 elections. To avoid repeat in 2020, LKP reabsorbs splinter party so factional realignment = Liberty Korea Party -> United Future Party. Also the party colour changes to 'happy pink'. https://www.donga.com/news/Politics/article/all/20200217/99743708/2
Disastrous election results follow anyway, Hwang Kyo-ahn resigns as party leader and economist turned politician Kim Chong-in takes the reins in a power vacuum. To avoid the frustrated powerlessness of previous interim leader Kim Byung-joon, Kim Chong-in secures some guarantees.
Those guarantees still doesn't buy Kim the love of the conservative base or any great factional power within party ranks. This party name change is however part of imprint his more centrist vision on the party. http://weekly.khan.co.kr/khnm.html?mode=view&code=113&artid=202008281422481&pt=nv
Kim Chong-in's personal history with conservative directional shifts on economic policy is less than convincing. Park Geun-hye pledged to implement 'economic democratization' for which Kim was a major advocate, only for such talk to go nowhere.
If the rollout of the new name is an indicater the party is not boldly strutting into a united, moderate era under Kim. Lawmakers from within the party have been publicly critical, not just regional or ideological friction but also moderate faction. https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20200831143951001
While an understandably unimportant afterthought for Korean politics, the English name went through multiple versions before it was clarified as 'People's Power' on Monday. Then on Wednesday it was announced that it is actually 'People Power Party'. https://www.donga.com/news/Politics/article/all/20200902/102765809/9
The confusion with the English name got to our article too, with a post-submission edit from People's Power --> People Power Party leaving an errant apostrophe s in there.
The reaction from the public has been underwhelming, and Kim Chong-in has not appreciated the suggestion that the party name is too close to Ahn Cheol's People's Party. https://www.hankyung.com/politics/article/2020090393147
Kim's discomfort with the talk of the party name's overlap with Ahn opening the possibility of a merger, hasbeen driven by sections of his own party speaking out publicly about that possibility. https://www.edaily.co.kr/news/read?newsId=02725686625895856&mediaCodeNo=257
Ahn attending a People Power Party forum will do little to stop that speculation https://news.joins.com/article/23864383
Danger for Kim lies not just in the center but also to the right. An unelected leader with past associations with the liberal party and a shallow power base, resistance is inevitable. http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/assembly/959458.html
Kim's fragility was laid bare with his flip-flop on a controversial right-wing liberation day rally, in which he initially said that party members are free to attend, while later backpedalling in fear of a public backlash. http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?art_id=202008181151001
