Opposition party‘s secretary general resigns
The secretary general of the main opposition Democratic United Party quit the post and dropped his bid for next month's general elections Friday, dealing yet another blow to the party's leadership beset by deepening feuds over its candidate selection process.
Im Jong-seok has been under pressure to step down amid criticism that he mishandled the party's candidate nomination process and caused its approval ratings to fall with less than two months before the crucial polls.
His bid for parliament has also been questioned due to a pending bribery case involving him.
"Today, I unload a heavy burden of being the party's secretary general and a candidate for Seongdong district in Seoul," Im said at a hastily prepared briefing at the National Assembly. "I'd like to offer words of solace as the party's secretary general to those who were let down after failing to be nominated."
The liberal party has been plagued by conflicts between the party's leadership and those who were excluded from election nominations. Some senior lawmakers even bolted out of the party to run as independents in their current districts.
His resignation is expected to add further burden to Chairwoman Han Myeong-sook's leadership while her party is negotiating with the leftist minor Progressive United Party (PUP) to form a broad alliance for the elections that are only a month away.
The two liberal parties are fine-tuning the list of candidates and major election agendas, including campaigns in protest of the free trade agreement with the United States and a controversial naval base project on the southern resort island of Jeju.
Im was appointed to the key post in charge of election nominations by Chairwoman Han after she was elected in a leadership contest in January, despite opposition over his ethical qualifications due to the bribery case.
The former two-term lawmaker was indicted in July 2011 on charges of receiving illegal political funds from a troubled savings bank, and received a suspended prison term from a local court last month. Im appealed to a higher court, denying the bribery allegations.
In the 1990s, Im was sentenced to five years in prison for masterminding a female student activist's unauthorized visit to North Korea.
Korea's National Security Law prohibits unauthorized trips to the communist state, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce. (Yonhap)