Pro-Lee lawmakers threaten collective action

By Chung Min-uck

An internal feud between the interim leadership and lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) is escalating as those close to President Lee Myung-bak are poised to take collective action against the emergency committee.

“I am thinking of a dissolution of the emergency committee if its members Kim Jong-in and Lee Sang-don don’t resign,”said Rep. Chang Je-won, known to be close to President Lee, Wednesday.

“I don’t acknowledge the current leadership. We are considering all options including holding a party convention to elect new leadership. There is no other choice but to carry out a collective move if the two don’t step down.”

Kim and Lee have been targeting pro-President faction members to voluntary give up their re-nomination for the April general election referring to them as the main cause of the ruling party’s downturn in popularity.

On Wednesday, Kim again urged the GNP lawmakers to drop out from the nomination process saying, “if someone cannot change by oneself, the change needs to be done by others.”

The strife within the GNP will likely grow further in the worst case leading to dismantling of the ruling party.

The in-house feud escalated following the release of a controversial report Tuesday by the party’s think tank, the Yeoido Institute.

The think tank leaked a report which includes sets of new nomination rules for the upcoming parliamentary election that will negatively affect the incumbent GNP lawmakers’ candidacy.

Soon after the report’s release, the think tank denied the introduction of one of the nomination rules that suggests replacing any incumbent representatives who have approval ratings lower than 5 percent compared to that of the party. However, it was found that the rule was included in the paper.

The interim emergency committee is to make reference to the think tank’s proposal in forming the party’s new nomination rules for the general election. The new set of standards will be revealed at the end of this month.

Insiders say that if the 5 percent nomination rule is applied, more than half of the current GNP lawmakers will not be re-nominated. The rule is to deal a severe blow especially to those from Gyeongsang Province and southern Seoul as those areas are considered the ruling party’s stronghold.

“The Daegu and Gyeongsang region represents the image of the GNP. The reforms should start from those areas. It’s a must,” said Lee who heads the party’s subcommittee in charge of political reforms, Wednesday.

Aides to Rep. Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of the emergency committee, soon intervened to try and smooth things over.

“The pro-Park faction should take the initiative and set the example,” said Rep. Son Beom-gyu, a close aide to Park, Wednesday. “There will be many in the pro-Park faction who will not run in the general election.”

Reps. Hyun Ki-hwan and Lee Hae-bong from the pro-Park faction of the GNP, representing electorates in Busan and Daegu respectively, declared earlier that they would not run in the general election.

Since the launch of the emergency committee last month, it has been pushing reform plans that distance the ruling party from President Lee who is suffering from waning popularity.

However, the move soon faced severe backlash from supporters of the President for fear that they might lose their tickets for the general election.