Ex-liberal lawmakers hit for joining Park’s camp

By Chung Min-uck

Former pro-democracy lawmakers Monday joined the election camp of Rep. Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, in the lead up to the December presidential election drawing criticism from liberals.

The 20 figures who officially declared their support for the conservative candidate include former Democratic Party (now the Democratic Unified Party) members and close aides of late President Kim Dae-jung. Kim, hailing from the southwestern province of Jeolla, is regarded as an iconic figure in South Korea’s modern democratic history.

“We are the ones who have been fighting to achieve democracy all our lives,” said former leftist lawmaker Lee Yoon-soo during a press conference held in front of the Saenuri Party headquarters in Seoul, Monday. “We today declare our support for Park for the unity of our nation.”

The move is in line with Park’s earlier appointment of Han Kwang-ok, former chief of staff to late President Kim, as chief vice chairman of the national unity committee which aims to create a nation to overcome regional and ideological differences.

The declaration made by the liberal veterans soon faced criticism from the opposition camp.

“Looking at their betrayal as the leaders of the liberal movement, I feel politics is moving backward,” said Jin Sung-joon, a spokesman of Rep. Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), in a statement. “We just hope Park’s way of political reform doesn’t nurture more traitors of what one has believed.”

The Saenuri Party opposed such a view.

“The DUP should understand why they have chosen to join the Saenuri Party,” said Lee Sang-il, the party spokesman, in a statement. “They really hope to see an end to the era of political division as seen under the former Roh Moo-hyun administration. The veterans want to open up an era of unity in this land.”