Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
DP chairman turning tables
By Jun Ji-hye
Rep. Kim Han-gil
By Jun Ji-hye
Rep. Kim Han-gil, chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), has long been accused of showing a lack of strong leadership but is now turning back the tide following a surprise agreement earlier this week to form a new opposition coalition party with independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo.
The DP’s meeting on Monday served as evidence of new found favor, as party members applauded enthusiastically after he explained how he reached the agreement with Ahn, and how the two leaders will work together to create the coalition party.
Until recently, the chairman was criticized as being an incompetent head. Some DP lawmakers and critics attacked his failure to persuade the ruling Saenuri Party to agree on appointing a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that the National Intelligence Service intervened in the 2012 presidential election.
Now, the DP members mostly anticipate that Sunday’s decision to form a coalition ahead of the June 4 local elections will provide fresh impetus for the party, which has been on the ropes since it was defeated in the presidential poll.
This raises the likelihood that Kim’s influence will increase further when making decisions about realigning the opposition bloc ahead of the 2017 presidential poll.
“Kim successfully took the initiative to push for the formation of the coalition party,” said Lee Kang-yun, a journalist-turned-commentator. “Other party members are expected to cooperate for the time being, because an atmosphere requiring everyone to cooperate has been created within the DP.”
Political commentators also pointed out that Kim and Ahn’s decision could undermine the powerbase of the late President Roh Moo-hyun’s supporters to some extent.
Factional disputes between former Roh supporters and others are cited as one of the opposition’s major headaches. Kim, a leader of a faction that opposed the late president, often clashed with Rep. Moon Jae-in, a former presidential candidate who served as chief of staff during the Roh administration.
There is a greater possibility that the Roh faction will be excluded in discussions to draw up details of platforms and policies of the coalition party, considering that political reform measures designed by Ahn and Kim are mostly centrist, while Roh’s aides are more aligned to liberalism.
“The Roh faction will likely lose its clout for a while,” said analyst Lee. “It won’t be rapidly extinguished though, because there are still many people supporting Roh’s legacy.”
Regarding the next presidential poll, some speculate that Kim will play the role of kingmaker to “establish Ahn as king” (president).
When announcing their plan to set up the opposition coalition, the leaders of the two opposition groups said that their goal is to change the government in the next presidential election.
Rep. Min Byung-doo of the DP attempted to dismiss such a presumption.
“Such speculation tends to always come when two political forces decide to merge. But this is just fiction,” said Min.
Analyst Lee added that Kim could get into a dangerous situation again if he faces possible conflicts in making decisions on such sensitive issues as how many nomination tickets each side will secure in the local polls.
“Plus, the June by-elections and the 2016 general elections for the National Assembly will be a significant turning point for talking about who will be the opposition’s candidate for the 2017 presidential poll,” said Lee.