Saenuri Party moves to end feud, gets reorganized for presidential race

The ruling Saenuri Party is moving forward to end the internal feud among its key officials and reorganize itself for the upcoming presidential race, political watchers said Wednesday.

Observers said Saenuri's presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye on Tuesday held closed door meetings with both Kim Chong-in, the head of the party's special committee on people's happiness, and Ahn Dae-hee, the chief of political reforms committee.

The men are chairpersons of two vital policymaking committees in Park's election camp with Kim, an economist-turned-politician in charge of formulating policies to push forward economic democratization. Ahn, a former Supreme Court justice, has been tasked with coming up with policies to revamp the country's political landscape and root out corruption.

Kim had been boycotting his duties and demanded the dismissal of floor leader Lee Hahn-koo from his post, while Ahn had openly objected to the planned appointment of Han Kwang-ok to lead Saenuri's national reconciliation committee.

This committee will be charged with handling abuses committed by past administration, including the 18-year rule by late President Park Chung-hee. The president is the father of Saenuri's presidential candidate.

Han, the former chief of staff to late liberal President Kim Dae-jung, had been implicated in a corruption scandal that Ahn had investigated in the past.

The former judge claimed "unprincipled" recruiting could compromise the legitimacy of the reform drive being pursued by the party, and said Park would have to effectively choose between himself or Han.

In addition, many lawmakers said there must be sweeping changes to the way the party has to be run and demanded the removal of pro-Park Geun-hye loyalists from important election camp posts and the party's leadership.

Park who initially rejected calls for revamping the entire party and election camp, accepted a compromise arrangement that called for Saenuri's chairman, floor leader and secretary general to be excluded from the election camp.

Insiders, meanwhile, said that there is a good chance that Park will chair the national reconciliation committee herself that could help settle the standoff between Ahn and Han, and will help emphasize the importance she places on national unity.

Reflecting efforts made, Kim said that he will return to work, and pointed out that Park promised to help pass key bills that could showcase the party's commitment to push forward economic democratization. Ahn also chaired a meeting of the reform committee earlier in the day and said his views on Han's role were expressed in detail to the candidate.

Speculations have arose that if Park heads the reconciliation committee, Han may be given another key election camp post that is commensurate with his stature. This could include co-chairmanship of the formal election camp, or a new committee aimed at ending regional discord that has marred South Korea's political development.

Party officials such as Park's chief press secretary Lee Jung--hyun said the 60-year-old candidate has done her utmost to end the feud by accepting the resignation of her chief of staff and agreeing to keep the party's leadership out of the election camp.

He added that Park has even decided to give Kim Moo-sung, who had argued with her in the past over state policies, a crucial role on the election team, which is a sign of her sincerity to listen to demands raised by members.

Lee, a member of Saenuri's supreme council, however, said that with just 70 days remaining before the Dec. 19 elections there is no long any time to wrangle over these issues any further.

Park has consistently been one of the frontrunners in the presidential race, but she had taken a beating in the polls last month after making controversial remarks about human rights abuses committed under her father's rule and string of scandals surrounding her aides and confidants. (Yonhap)