Ex-President Roh’s followers emerge

By Chung Min-uck

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) has plunged into deeper factional strife as it decided against choosing six incumbent lawmakers for the southwestern Jeolla region to run for reelction in the April 11 National Assembly elections.

In the DUP’s fourth round of candidate selection, four lawmakers including Reps. Park Jie-won, a DUP Supreme Council member, and Lee Yong-sup, the party’s chief policymaker, were chosen to run in the Jeolla region. The rest of the lawmakers will need to go through an in-house final selection stage.

Members from the former Democratic Party (DP) have been threatening the DUP leadership that they would leave if they are not fairly treated in candidate selection. The DUP leadership is currently led by close aides of the late President Roh Moo-hyun.

In the announcement, six out of 28 DUP lawmakers from the Jeolla region were dropped from the party’s candidate selection process. Until today’s announcement, only two incumbents have been eliminated in the initial evaluations.

Insiders say the replacement rate of the incumbents in the Jeolla region could reach more than 50 percent if combined with number of lawmakers who are to lose in the party’s open primaries and the ones who already left the region to seek reelection in other areas. It is estimated that the average replacement rate of the DUP incumbents is less than 25 percent.

Against this backdrop, the former DP lawmakers, who have their home turf in the Jeolla region, a hometown of late President Kim Dae-jung, are showing signs of wanting to leave the unified liberal party.

The DUP was launched in December through a merger of the DP; the Citizens Unity Party, largely consisting of the late former President Roh’s, and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), the nation’s biggest umbrella labor group.

Analysts say that the ongoing internal feud was foreseeable as the unification was nothing but a gathering of liberal groups with different identities to win more votes ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

“The result of today’s selections had no principles or standards,” said the rejected legislators in a joint statement, Monday. “The pro-Roh figures are trying to remove the lawmakers in the Jeolla region.”

“I am seriously considering leaving the party with other lawmakers who have been dropped from the primaries,” said two-term DUP lawmaker Choi In-kee, one of the six who were not included on the candidate list.

“Everyone is saying that I can receive more support if I choose to run as an independent,” said Rep. Kang Bong-kyun. “I will discuss the issue with the other members who have been dropped.”

Meanwhile, criticism has also been mounting against the pro-Roh figures from the labor group members in the DUP.

“If the DUP is to lose the spirit of unification, the FTKU can make a critical decision (to leave the party),” said FTKU President Lee Yong-deuk who also serves as a DUP Supreme Council member.

Lee’s words are in line with former DP members as they have the same dissatisfaction with the party’s leadership.

Analysts say the possible break up of the DUP could turn out to be one of the biggest variables in the upcoming elections.