Park Geun-hye, the leading presidential hopeful for the ruling Grand National Party, stressed the need for a fair and transparent nomination system for next year’s general elections Thursday.

She also said that the most pressing issue facing the party is its transformation through integration and harmony.

The former GNP chairwoman made clear her intention to run for president in interviews with the new general programming cable channels launched on Thursday.

“I basically think a couple of powerful figures should not pick candidates for the general elections,” Park said. “(The GNP) should make a nomination standard that is plausible to people and explain it to people. We have to make a transparent, open system according to that rule.”

Her words reflected the blame from the public and from within the party that the closed-door processes often lead to irregularities in nominations.

In South Korea, most party nominations are closed-door affairs led by a few heavyweights in the party’s leadership with little debate over policy issues. The opaque process, often riddled with bribery and nepotism, has been criticized as one of the sources of corruption and the reason for a general distrust of major political parties.

Park, who aspires to be South Korea’s first female president, has stayed away from party affairs for years because of soured relations with President Lee Myung-bak after she lost to him in the party’s 2007 presidential primary.

With about a year left before the presidential race in December, she has recently stepped up her public activities through lectures and meetings with residents at local events, seen as preliminary campaign activities to gear up for a second bid at the party nomination. The acts were also in line with the ruling party’s efforts to renew itself and gain back public support, which has fallen greatly.

During the interviews, she once again underlined her flagship policies and spoke favorably, yet vaguely, on her potential liberal rival, professor Ahn Cheol-soo.

“He is a man of good character and I believe we would have gotten on well, should we have met on a casual occasion,” said the GNP’s former chairwoman.

She also acknowledged Ahn’s soaring political influence over the public.

“His appearance is a warning from the people that political parties have failed to meet their expectations,” she said.

The GNP topliner has for years been the unrivalled presidential potential, but has recently faced challenges this year as Ahn’s name came up in political circles.

Though Ahn has not yet made his bid in the presidential race, he was ranked the top runner in a recent public poll, beating Park by a narrow gap.

“My political goal is quite clear and I will not be swayed by every single public poll or opinion,” she said.

Her interview, however, also sparked the dispute that the GNP favored the four channels, all of which are owned by right-wing newspapers.

“Rep. Park has so far refrained from stepping out in the political circles but has recently started gearing up for next year’s plans,” said Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, Park’s de facto spokesperson.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)