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| New Politics Alliance for Democracy floor leader Woo Yoon-keun, right, with Bill Paterson, Australia's ambassador to Korea, during Paterson's visit to the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. The ambassador asked the parliament to ratify the Korea-Australia free trade agreement, signed in April. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) is planning to hold a national convention to elect a new chairman in early February, according to insiders Wednesday.
"The party plans to hold the event around Feb. 7 or 8. Party members agreed that it would be suitable to hold it ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that begins from Feb. 18," said an official from the NPAD press office. "Members believe that the party will be pressed for time if it holds the event in January."
Rep. Lee Seok-hyun also told reporters that the event will most likely take place Feb. 8.
The largest opposition party is seeking to set up a committee tasked with preparing for the national convention as early as next week. The committee will make final decisions on the timing and other details of the event, officials said, adding that about 15 to 20 lawmakers are expected to take part.
Fierce competition for the party's new presidency is expected as the leadership that will be elected this time will have great influence in nominating candidates for the 2016 general election.
Reps. Moon Jae-in, Park Jie-won and Chung Sye-kyun, who represent major factions within the NPAD, are expected to run for the party leadership.
Rep. Moon, a former presidential candidate of the now-defunct Democratic Party and former chief of staff of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, represents Roh supporters; while Rep. Park is set to represent supporters of the late President Kim Dae-jung. Park was chief of staff in Kim's administration. Rep. Chung is regarded as embracing centrists.
However, five-term lawmaker Lee Seok-hyun argued that leaders of each faction should refrain from running to minimize harmful consequences resulting from factional conflicts.
"If leaders of each faction compete against each other, it will inevitably lead to conflicts between factions," he said at a meeting with reporters. "If they have loyalty toward the party, it will be more appropriate to make concessions."
As concerns increase over the possibility of deepening factional conflict, Rep. Moon Hee-sang, interim leader of the NPAD, previously said there would be no problem as long as the event is carried out transparently.
Lee downplayed that remark saying, "That is just a textbook theory."
Reps. Ahn Cheol-soo and Kim Han-gil, the NPAD's former co-chairmen, resigned in early August in the wake of the party's crushing defeat in the July 30 by-elections. Since then, the party has been led by the interim leader who is chairman of the emergency planning committee.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
