Park to officially take helm of GNP

With exactly one year left before the presidential election, Rep. Park Geun-hye is poised to return to the helm of the Grand National Party on Monday, tasked with lifting the ruling conservatives from a crisis and winning back the confidence of voters.

In a national committee meeting in the afternoon, the party is expected to endorse the appointment of Park as head of its emergency leadership council.
Former chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo resigned earlier this month after he came under mounting pressure from his ranks to vacate the seat for Park so that she can lead the unpopular party until the general election in April.

Park, upon taking office, plans to unveil her blueprint for party reforms, her aides said Sunday.

She also plans to swiftly fill senior leadership positions with reform-minded figures who can assist her in rebuilding of the GNP and preparations for the election. 

Koreans will pick members of the parliament on April 11 and a new president on Dec. 19.

“At least a half (of the emergency leadership council seats) could be given to non-party figures,” a source close to Park said, adding that her team will be anything like previous leadership councils.

Last week, Park successfully mended a rift between party members, with promises to reform the GNP “to the core.”

Rebel lawmakers demanded that the GNP disband itself and be reborn as a completely new party, if it is to stand a chance to win in elections next year. Two of the rebel members quit the party, expressing their frustration at the old guard’s resistance to giving up vested rights.

Park, in a meeting with the rebel members, pledged to change the party to a degree that goes “beyond recreation.”

The GNP has been plagued by a series of by-election defeats, corruption scandals, and most recently, a devastating allegation that its officials may have been involved in a cyber attack against the national election watchdog during a vote in October for Seoul mayor.

The liberal opposition suspects that the hacking attack may have been a failed attempt to influence the outcome of the election, where the GNP candidate lost to opposition-backed independent, Park Won-soon.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)


Liberals vow to step up efforts for unity

Liberals vowed to redouble efforts to unite all leftist forces against the ruling conservatives in elections next year, celebrating Monday the launch of a new political party created by a merger of three progressive groups.

Holding its first official meeting, key members of the fledging Democratic Unified Party said it will be the driving force behind a new political movement in Korea, communicating with people online and offline.

“The DUP launches on the basis of people’s desire for new politics and a new national leadership,” the party said in a statement. “We ask for your interest and participation in the process to elect our leaders,” it said.

The DUP integrated the largest opposition Democratic Party, the Citizen Integration Party, a group of politicians loyal to the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, and the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, the nation’s largest labor group. 

With that, the once-fragmented liberal opposition has been realigned into two major forces ― the DUP and the Unified Progressive Party, which was formed earlier this month following a merger amongst three far-left groups, including the Democratic Labor Party.

DUP said it will seek to unify with the UPP before elections next year, hoping to capitalize on the widespread voter disapproval of the administration of President Lee Myung-bak and his GNP.

“We will overcome out small differences to achieve greater value of a change of regime,” the party said in the statement.

In the Oct. 26 Seoul mayoral by-election, the opposition scored a key win against the GNP, by giving its full support to liberal-minded civic activist Park Won-soon against a GNP candidate.

Seoul Mayor Park and representatives from civic groups attended Monday’s meeting, in support of the new group.

The DUP is to select its inaugural chairperson and six other leadership council members at a national convention slated for Jan. 15. More than 20 are likely to run for council seats.

Among them are former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook; actor-turned politician Moon Sung-keun; former DP floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won and former secretary general of the YMCA Lee Hack-young.

Former Rep. Shin Ki-nam held a press conference Sunday, becoming the first to officially announce a bid.

The party plans to hold a cutoff election on Dec. 26 to narrow down the field to nine candidates.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)