GNP Chairman Rules Out PM Joining Presidential Race
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Rep. Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the governing Grand National Party (GNP), said Tuesday that Rep. Park Geun-hye was one of the most viable candidates to run in the next presidential election on the GNP ticket.
But he excluded Prime Minister Chung Un-chan from the list of possible candidates from the governing camp, saying that he quoted the names of aspirants based upon poll results.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Governor Kim Moon-soo of Gyeonggi Province were also among the names mentioned by Chung.
In a meeting with senior journalists in Seoul, the GNP leader didn't give a direct answer over whether he would be willing to drop his own potential presidential bid to help Park secure the nomination.
Early on, the GNP chairman expressed willingness to run in the primaries, saying he has no good reason to bypass the opportunity if and when it is given to him.
Back in 2007, Prime Minister Chung was tapped to run in the presidential race on the ticket of the then-ruling Uri Party, the now-defunct predecessor of the main opposition Democratic Party.
But months before the election, he announced he would not run, as polls showed support for him was weak.
Asked if he considered being prime minister a springboard for the presidency during a confirmation hearing last month, the former Seoul National University (SNU) president clarified that he had no intention to run in the presidential election.
Despite his denial, campaign watchers speculate that the former SNU professor may declare a bid for the top job sometime in the future.
Meanwhile, GNP Chairman Chung expressed his own view regarding humanitarian assistance to North Korea as well as its nuclear programs.
The businessman-turned-politician said that time was right for South Korea to resume food aid to the communist state, despite worries that the North feeds its military, not civilians, with food aid.
``We have had a good harvest this year so I think we need to go ahead with food aid to North Korea if we truly believe we should do it,'' he said.
Seoul halted sending rice to the North after conservative President Lee Myung-bak was sworn in last February.
Lee called on the North to change its behavior first, at which point South Korea, in collaboration with the international community, would give economic assistance to its northern neighbor in return.
Recently, a group of opposition lawmakers called on the government to resume food aid to the North, saying sending rice to the impoverished country would help relieve South Korean farmers' worries over falling prices.
The GNP chairman also said Pyongyang has been developing its nuclear programs for approximately two decades, so it is not fair to say that previous liberal administrations, which sought engagement with the North, were responsible for North Korea's nuclear armaments.
His remarks were in contrast with what many ruling party lawmakers have said of the North's brinkmanship diplomacy and nuclear programs.
Those lawmakers alleged the liberal governments spoiled the North with what they called a spending spree package.