Key man on political reform threatens to quit as internal call for reshuffle intensifies


Clouding unity efforts by presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye, internal strife at the ruling Saenuri Party worsened Monday with a threat by her key political reform man to quit unless she revoked her latest appointment of a former opposition lawmaker.

Ahn Dae-heui, a former Supreme Court justice who heads the Saenuri Party’s political reform committee, said at a press conference, “No matter how much (we) shout out for reform, the sincerity can be doubted as long as there a member (who has been involved in corruption).”

Ahn has been strongly opposed to the latest designation by Park of Han Gwang-ok, the right-hand man of deceased former President Kim Dae-jung, as the party’s unity committee chairman, citing his criminal record. Han was convicted in 2003 for receiving bribes from a businessman.

“When it is a matter of principle that muddles the essence of reform, or it becomes a decisive blow to the candidate’s image, I have no other choice but to risk my position and offer advice,” Ahn said. The former prosecutor known for his full-fledged clampdowns against political irregularities said his position was echoed by other members of his committee.

To make matters worse, in-house calls for a stronger reshuffle continued to boil at the Saenuri Party despite the resignation of Park’s closets aide Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan as her chief secretary on Sunday.

Contrary to Park’s intention to highlight her political reform platform with Ahn and underscore social unity upon the appointment of Han, the fallout will be a testing ground for the former chairwoman’s leadership, observers said.

“This could be an example of the limits to Park’s leadership style that tends to be exclusive and insular, showing a problem deriving from internal miscommunication by failing to gather opinions from within her camp in recruiting figures,” said politics professor Yoon Seong-yi of Kyung Hee University.

“This will be a test to Park’s leadership by seeing how she will solve the issue.”

Alarmed by Park’s teetering race against the opposition contenders, calls among the reform-forward lawmakers have been surging over the past few days for the urgency of drastic reform.

Park, who had been a solid frontrunner since the victory in the April general elections, has been staggering in popularity polls particularly upon the presidential bid announcement by independent Ahn Cheol-soo last month.

Pumped up by the potential alliance with popular Ahn, the main opposition Democratic United Party’s Moon Jae-in has also been enjoying a steady rise in his popularity, coming neck-and-neck with Park in the latest polls.

Lawmakers on their second or higher parliamentary terms showed signs of taking collective action Monday.

Rep. Kim Sung-tae said the lawmakers were planning to gather soon to discuss the options.

“Neither Park nor the party’s leadership is grasping the essence of the crisis,” Kim said.

Rep. Kim Yong-tae, a reform-forward member, said in a radio interview that the resignation of Choi was only the “beginning of the shake-up.”

“It is only right for those to resign for having left the presidential race reach a situation where the Saenuri Party is being dragged by the alliance issue touted by the opposition contenders,” he said.

As friction deepened, Park delayed her scheduled announcement of the additional lineup to her central campaign committee.

Defining the rising calls as a power struggle, Park criticized the reformist lawmakers in a meeting with reporters.

“It is characteristic of politics to fight for power and seats. Demanding that we overturn everything right now is the same as saying we should give up the presidential election,” Park said, in a clear dismissal of the reformists’ demands.

“It is my clear position that one must not rattle the party by demanding to change everything when the election is just around the corner.”

Among those criticized for being pro-Park and anti-reform are the party’s chairman Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader Lee Hahn-koo and secretary-general Suh Byung-soo, who is chief of the election headquarters. Lee is also at odds with Park’s key economic strategist Kim Chong-in, who heads her economic democratization drive. Kim, along with Ahn, has been informally boycotting the party’s meetings in opposition to Park’s latest personnel decisions.

Under the party’s constitution, Hwang and Lee are automatically included in the election committee. One of the suggestions by the reformists is that they maintain their party posts but rescind their campaigning roles.

Lee also hinted at the possibility of becoming more cooperative by saying, “Economic democratization cited by Park must be implemented 100 percent.” Lee had publicly exchanged salvos with Kim mainly due to their differences on chaebol reforms.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)