By Do Je-hae
The ruling party’s floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min is defying pressure from President Park Geun-hye to resign from his post.
He is carrying out his regular duties after a Saenuri Party Supreme Council meeting Monday to discuss his fate concluded with no decision, except to wait for a move by Yoo.
Despite Park’s supporters in the party who have vowed to deploy all measures to drive him out, the latest polls show public opinion is leaning toward the embattled floor leader rather than the President, who has set out to control the ruling party in a manner reminiscent of 1970s authoritarian rule.
The latest poll by Real Meter showed that 45.8 percent of the respondents are against his resignation.
The poll also showed that the latest Saenuri Party dispute has strengthened his profile as a possible presidential candidate from the ruling camp. He moved up two spots from last month, trailing Chairman Kim Moo-sung, former Seoul Mayor Oh Sey-hoon and former Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo.
The non-Park faction, consisting mostly of junior lawmakers, issued a statement Monday supporting Yoo’s continued presence as floor leader.
“It is absurd that the presidential office should have a say in the status of the floor leader. That is up to the party’s general assembly to decide,” Rep. Kim Yong-tae said.
Speculation is rising that Yoo will ultimately end up resigning.
“Cheong Wa Dae’s move to oust a ruling party floor leader is pathetic,” Rep. Park Jie-won of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) said in radio interview. He criticized the President for perceiving the ruling party as “an affiliate of Cheong Wa Dae and Yoo its contract employee.”
“Irrespective of his shortcomings, it is ridiculous for Cheong Wa Dae to berate and try to remove a ruling whip.”
He foresaw that Yoo will have no choice but to leave his post. “The pro-Park faction may be a minority within the Saenuri Party, but with the support of the President, they will do all they can until he is ousted.”
The Saenuri Party chairman hinted Tuesday after a meeting with some 30 lawmakers that Yoo will ultimately make an exit, saying “we must give him time to think and decide.”
The pro-Park faction has delayed a party caucus to decide Yoo’s fate.
“We do not have a precedent where a party caucus held a confidence vote on a floor leader,” Rep. Kim Tae-heum said.
At the center of the Saenuri Party dispute is a controversial revision bill passed by the National Assembly last month to empower parliament to review government ordinances.
Following Park’s veto of the bill, Assembly speaker Chung Ui-hwa said that he will put the bill to a vote during a plenary session on July 6.
Kim said that his party will attend the session.
Park’s open criticism of Yoo came after she vetoed the bill, saying it had unconstitutional elements.
The President and the party’s pro-Park faction have blamed Yoo for conceding to the main opposition’s push to pass the bill.