3 Roh Loyalists Attack Sohn, Chung
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Three presidential contenders of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP), who are loyal to President Roh Moo-hyun, Monday reiterated their criticism of the two frontrunners, Sohn Hak-kyu and Chung Dong-young, for their political leanings.
During the first joint rally in Jeju Island, Sohn, 60, former governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Chung, 54, former minister of unification, were targets of criticism from the Roh loyalists, Lee Hae-chan, Rhyu Si-min and Han Myeong-sook.
Sohn, who topped the preliminary race on Sept. 3 to select five from among nine hopefuls, was assailed due to his previous affiliation with the conservative Grand National Party (GNP).
He defected from the GNP on March 15 criticizing the party's conservativeness. He joined the pro-government party last month.
Chung was also cornered because the three loyalists criticized his desertion from the now-defunct governing Uri Party, which Chung founded. He deserted the party, the de facto predecessor to the UNDP, on June 18.
Party insiders, however, said that the Roh loyalists failed to have a strong impression on the public with their campaign pledges and attacks on Sohn and Chung.
Besides, they differ over fielding a single candidate to represent Roh supporters' group, which lowers the possibility of a Roh loyalist winning the party's ticket to run in December's presidential election, they said.
The pro-government party will hold 11 more joint rallies nationwide with the next rallies scheduled to take place in Ulsan on Wednesday and Gangwon Province on Friday.
The last rally will take place in Seoul on Oct. 10.
The party will also hold four more rounds of televised debates on campaign pledges.
The second TV debate will he held in Seoul, Tuesday. The televised debates are supposed to end on Sept. 21 in Busan.
The UNDP has barely quelled internal feuding over rules concerning the primaries.
According to the new rules, the presidential nominee will be selected based on votes in eight provinces and large cities plus a mobile phone vote with a 90 percent weighting toward the final result.
The remaining 10 percent will be contributed from a nationwide survey.
The party, which was created last month, will announce its standard-bearer on Oct. 15.