By Kang Hyun-kyung

The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) Monday seemed desperate to find a breakthrough in the wake of the Oct. 26 cyber attack of the election watchdog by an aide of one of its lawmakers.

Senior GNP lawmakers held a rare closed-door meeting to discuss the matter and how to tackle the crisis.

Some lawmakers such as Yoo Seung-min called on the party leadership to accept the opposition camp’s demand to hold a parliamentary investigation into the cyber attack which was made on the day voters went to the polls to pick a new Seoul mayor.

But Chairman Hong Joon-pyo and floor leader Hwang Woo-yea remained reluctant to accept their suggestion. They cited the need for the ruling party to wait until police finalize their investigation.

They are expanding their probe to find out whether the attack was premeditated and who was ultimately responsible.

Rep. Gu Sang-chan of the GNP said the cyber attack led by a legislative clerk of Rep. Choi Ku-sik will deal a serious blow to the ruling camp already struggling in the aftermath of the mayoral by-election.

Na Kyung-won, who ran in the mayoral race on the GNP ticket, was defeated by independent candidate Park Won-soon by a wide margin.

As the National Assembly and presidential elections are slated for April and December next year, respectively, the GNP’s defeat in the capital will likely create an unfavorable campaign landscape for the ruling party.

Amid this atmosphere, senior GNP lawmakers are searching for a way out.

But the probability of their finding ways to delink the ruling party from the case appears dim as the aide’s involvement is too scathing.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (DP), who sees this as an opportunity to build up their influence, has ratcheted up pressure for the conservatives to come clean.

Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition DP, demanded the police investigate the case thoroughly, warning they must not try to cover it up.

The DP chairman described the crashing of the website of the National Election Commission through a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack led by Choi’s clerk as an act of destroying democracy.

During a meeting with senior DP lawmakers, Sohn said he was not convinced the DDoS attack was planned and conducted by the legislative clerk, given its massive scale and the money required.

“The perpetrator seemed intent on destroying democracy as he attempted to put the Seoul mayoral election into chaos by attacking the election watchdog’s website,” he said.

Earlier, the opposition party demanded the GNP join the move to call for legislation to conduct a parliamentary probe of the case.

The fresh attack is apparently aimed to turn the tide in the midst of the opposition camp, including the DP, as the GNP has also been cornered after the passage of the free trade agreement signed with the United States days ago.

The mainstream media reported the use of tear gas in the National Assembly in order to unsuccessfully prevent the parliamentary ratification of the trade motion, blaming Rep. Kim Sun-dong of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party for letting off the canister.

After the ratification of the trade accord the DP, together with minor opposition parties have boycotted parliamentary sessions at a time when the budget proposal is pending.