Lee to speak today on post-election strategy

By Na Jeong-ju

Staff reporter

President Lee Myung-bak will deliver a nationally televised address Monday to outline his plan to reshuffle the Cabinet and the presidential staff, Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday.

In the speech, which will be broadcast live at major television networks, Lee may also call for unity of the governing camp and unveil his position on the Grand National Party’s unexpected defeat in the June 2 local elections.

Sources say he may replace some of his secretaries early next month in a bid to address the deepening feud inside the ruling camp following the upset.

The row is expected to see a critical turning point this week as a group of 51 junior lawmakers of the GNP, who have called for an early reform of the Cabinet and the presidential secretariat, plan to gather Tuesday and reiterate their demands.

The party’s decision-making Supreme Council has agreed to heed their suggestions in charting a post-election policy roadmap, but observers say a behind-the-scenes intraparty struggle for power could escalate further down the road.

Last week, presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said Lee was pondering over a new lineup of his secretaries and that it could be announced before the GNP holds a national convention in mid-July to elect its new leaders.

“There is no doubt that the ruling camp needs new figures to overcome the current difficulties and prepare for the future,” Kim told reporters Friday. “However, we need some time to find them and evaluate their qualifications.” Some analysts said the conservative leader could take a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle in early August following the July 28 byelections, in which at least eight National Assembly seats will be up for grabs.

“It is too early to say how many ministers will be replaced. The figure is likely to depend on the result of the upcoming elections,” a Lee aide said.

The biggest question is whether Prime Minister Chung Un-chan will survive. The fate of the 61-year-old former Seoul National University president has become increasingly uncertain since opposition parties and independent candidates swept mayoral and gubernatorial races in the Chungcheong provinces.

He played a leading role in revoking a four-year-old project to build an administrative town in South Chungcheong Province and turning it instead into an industrial complex heavily invested in by chaebol.