Ahn gets prepared for new party

By Jun Ji-hye

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo launched a policy think tank Thursday that includes influential liberal figures in what is seen as the strongest ever indication that he will establish a new political party.

The move is expected to be the first step taken by the former presidential candidate toward establishing a party in the near future, which would accelerate political realignment in the opposition side, analysts said.

“I decided to launch a policy think tank dubbed ‘Naeil,’ which is open to the public as well as policy experts. I will make communication with people the top priority so I can properly reflect their opinions,” said Ahn at a press conference, Wednesday. “Naeil” means “tomorrow.”

Most notably, Jang Ha-sung, a professor of Korea University who worked for Ahn’s presidential campaign, and Choi Jang-jip, an honorary professor of the same university, joined the institute as chief and chairman of the board, respectively.

Choi is a noted progressive political scientist who has studied the role of political parties in democratic societies. Ahn was captured by photo journalists reading a book written by Choi, “Humane Pain in Democratic Society without Labor,” on his flight to Korea in March after three months in the United States.

“The core system in a democracy is made up of political parties, but the nation’s parties have not properly performed their roles. Naeil will strive to achieve effective leadership,” said Choi during an appearance at the conference with Ahn.

Jang is known as a “chaebol sniper” because of his record of attacking the closed management of Korea's conglomerates.

Experts say Choi’s engagement in Ahn’s move has greater meaning, because Choi has stressed the significance of political parties.

“Ahn sent the strongest signal to set up the new party by recruiting Choi. He is now set to compete with the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in earnest as an official power block, rather than an individual,” said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Korea Society Opinion Institute, Thursday.

Yoon said Ahn’s launch of the think tank is expected to give him fresh momentum to put his concept of new politics into practice.

“He can now sufficiently prepare content for policies and a party platform with two influential professors. Through the move, he is also able to maintain the public’s expectation about his future direction,” Yoon said.

Yoon said the mix of Choi and Ahn could be seen as an odd couple in the eyes of the public because Choi has been regarded as a progressive figure, while Ahn prefers the middle ground.

But he added this will be leverage to strengthen his competitiveness against the DP.

“Although Ahn has adopted ‘common-sense’ positions outside of conservative and progressive views, he will be regarded as an opposition figure unless he joins the ruling Saenuri Party. In this regard, the DP might have been very embarrassed about losing Choi to Ahn,” he said.

In particular, given that Choi has served as chief of the supporters' association for DP adviser Sohn Hak-kyu, speculation that Ahn will combine forces with Sohn gained further momentum. Speculation has emerged since the presidential poll period because the two had a closed-door talk shortly after Ahn withdrew his bid.

Sohn has been in Germany since January and is expected to return home around August.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly announced Thursday that the Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee decided to assign Ahn the Health and Welfare Committee, because he has experience in the medical sector having worked as a doctor.

Under the Assembly law, the speaker has authority to assign standing committees to lawmakers who do not belong to parties that have more than 20 parliamentary seats.