Ruling party members call for overhauling Park's camp

Ruling Saenuri Party officials again called Monday for an overhaul of the presidential election camp, which has received flak for failing to manage Park Geun-hye's campaign in an effective manner.

Lawmakers and senior officials said there is a pressing need to change campaign personnel and strategies if the Saenuri presidential hopeful wants to win the Dec. 19 polls. The demands are a repeat of calls made last week by Reps. Yoo Seong-min and Nam Kyung-pil.

Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan stepped down as Park's chief of staff on Sunday and all confidants of the presidential candidate came under pressure to quit so as to make room for the infusion of "new blood" able to expand Saenuri's support base.

Reformists in the party said Choi's departure is not enough and that others must follow suit.

"The chief of staff's decision is appropriate but to think one resignation will correct the current impasse shows a lack of situational awareness by Park and the leadership," said Rep. Kim Sung-tae. He said other two-term lawmakers in Saenuri are exchanging views on what concerted efforts should be taken to get the party to implement reforms.

The calls come after Park's popularity took a hit in recent weeks after she made controversial remarks about human rights abuses committed under her father's 18-year-old rule and a string of allegations arose about corruption among party members.

She formally apologized for former President Park Chung-hee's actions and Saenuri expelled members implicated in the scandals, but her approval rating as a whole has not recovered fully.

Kim and others have suggested that party chairman Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader Lee Hahn-koo and Suh Byung-soo, Saenuri's secretary general, should all step down, or at the very least, be excluded from playing a role in the election camp.

Related to calls for an overhaul, Park said at the opening of an election office in North Chungcheon Province earlier in the day, that now is the time to seek harmony because there will be many adversities to overcome before the election date. Her remark reinforces earlier comments that there is not enough time before the election to make the scale of changes being requested.

Hwang and Suh said they understood the concerns raised by party members, yet stressed unity as the party must prepare for the critical elections.

Others, such as Saenuri's floor leader, said the leadership could not step down at this juncture, but he made clear the party will fully back Park's pledges such as efforts to implement economic democracy.

Lee has been at odds with Kim Chong-in, a reformist economist, who has headed the party's special committee on people's happiness. Kim warned the party must decide once and for all on its position in regards to economic democracy. Kim has boycotted official party activities since last week to demand some kind of action be taken against the floor leader.

Economic democracy aims to better distribute wealth across the country, limit the power of the large conglomerates, and help small and medium enterprises.

The move, however, has run into opposition from large companies who claimed that such efforts will effectively hurt competitiveness, Lee has been viewed as supporting this position.

In another sign of in-house turmoil, Ahn Dae-hee, a former Supreme Court justice who now leads the party's political reforms special committee, said he will quit if Han Kwang-ok, a former opposition lawmaker, is tapped to lead Saenuri's national reconciliation committee.

Park wants to set up the reconciliation committee so it can heal old wounds and show she is serious about her apology.

Park and her supporters expected that the 70-year-old Han, who formerly served as chief of staff to late President Kim Dae-jung, would help expand her support in the Jeolla provinces, the power base of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP).

In news conference, Ahn stressed that in order for the political reforms committee to play its part it must win public trust.

"If a person who joins the election camp and assumes a key post has been implicated in a past scandal, who will believe the sincerity of political reforms?" Ahn asked.

He said if his advice is not respected, he and others in the committee would leave.

Such a move would deal a serious blow to Park who made modest gains in recent polls.

Meanwhile, a poll by Media Research released by KBS TV showed Park's rating standing at 44.4 percent compared to 48.1 percent for Ahn Cheol-soo. The 3.7 percentage point gap is smaller than the 8.7 percentage point difference tallied right before the Chuseok holiday that fell on Sept. 30.

Chuseok is considered the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving Day. The holiday is important to politicians during an election year because it allows family and friends to exchange views on candidates.

In a head-to-head race with Moon Jae-in, Park was ahead 47.9 percent to Moon's 44.9 percent. Before Chuseok, the DUP candidate was ahead.

In a three-way-race, Park maintained a lead with 40.5 percent, followed by Ahn and Moon with 28.7 percent and 21.9 percent, each.

(Yonhap)