INTERVIEW 'We are not far-rightists': Bareun Party leader
Rep. Lee Hye-hoon, chairwoman of the minor opposition Bareun Party, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at her office at the National Assembly, July 4. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Bareun Party leader charts new road for conservatives
By Kim Hyo-jin
One major difference between conservatives and liberals in South Korean politics is how they view North Korea.
In elections, liberal candidates have often been branded as “pro-North Koreans” or “North Korea followers” for their conciliatory views, and these smear campaigns have sometimes worked.
According to Rep. Lee Hye-hoon, the new leader of the conservative Bareun Party, however, this kind of malicious campaign capitalizing on the antipathy toward North Korea should not be repeated.
“It’s not fair to attack President Moon Jae-in by calling him a North Korea follower. He just has a view that engagement can denuclearize North Korea,” she said during an interview at her office in the National Assembly, July 4. “We can’t tell which approach between sanctions and dialogue may work, but we should respect differences in viewpoints.”
Lee criticized the bigger conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) for labeling those with a conciliatory view on North Korea as pro-North Koreans, saying the party is pursuing “anti-communist McCarthyism” for its own gain.
“This should not be the road for the new conservatives,” Lee said. “Such a stance has nothing to do with improving national security.”
“The LKP is only doing this to clear out those who have opposing ideas to them. I wonder if they are qualified to live in a democratic society,” she said, calling them mere reactionary, far-rightists.
“It’s not only with views on the economic agenda, but also on security where the Bareun Party differs from the LKP.”
The three-term lawmaker was elected party leader in late June. The post had been left empty since the party’s first leader, Rep. Choung Byoung-gug, offered to resign soon after the March 10 ouster of scandal-hit former President Park Geun-hye.
The new leader’s priority is seeking stable political ground for the seven month-old minor party.
The party started with the motto of being a new “reformative conservative” entity with 33 members who left the former ruling Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the current main opposition LKP.
With 13 lawmakers returning to the LKP in the run-up to the presidential election, the 20-member party now barely meets the minimum number to be a negotiating bloc.
Dismissing lingering concerns about the possible exodus of more lawmakers, Lee said she can rather take a bold step in reforming conservatives with the remaining lawmakers.
“They left us to seek political interest, to win the election. They have no interest in reforms or values for better politics. That’s how the remaining lawmakers are different from them.”
Rising popularity
The party is witnessing an inspiring change in public sentiment. The latest Gallup poll showed that it has become the second most popular party following the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
It even beat the main opposition LKP in its conservative home turf North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu by 8 percentage points, the first time since its establishment.
The region stuck to the former ruling LKP even after the presidential corruption scandal that led to ouster of President Park Geun-hye, showing the largest support in the country for its presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo in the May 9 election.
Lee thinks the survey reflects loyal conservative voters, mainly in their 60s and 70s, starting to question what they had believed in.
“During the election campaign, they simply fell victim to fake news distributed by the LKP which said Hong and DPK candidate Moon Jae-in were in a neck-and-neck race,” she said.
“They still voted for Hong despite the lack of willingness and feeling of shame and now they are finally reflecting on their choice.”
Lee plans to increase face-to-face contact with citizens there to disperse doubts on the Bareun Party ahead of local elections next year. An image of “betrayers” against disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye has been the biggest challenge for the party.
“Our main support base is people in the Seoul Metropolitan area in their 20s and 30s. They are our momentum in building a new conservative bloc. Nonetheless, we cannot give up on the old generation in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province,” she said.
“Off-line, one-to-one meetings are key to winning their minds. I will visit where people gather casually, such as community centers, hairdressers, and real estate agents, with fellow lawmakers and talk them into standing by our side.”
She also plans to have Yoo Seong-min and Nam Kyung-pil, high-profile members, hold lectures or so-called “talk concerts” at universities as a way to appeal to young supporters.
About 10,000 party members joined the party during the presidential campaign where Yoo’s performance in debate sessions against his competitors shone. The party now has over 70,000 party members and many of them are in their 20s and 30s.
How to boost its presence
“With such a small number of parliamentary seats, I don’t see us as a casting vote. And it’s true that we can exert little political influence compared to major parties,” she said.
“But I believe what citizens hope to see is not a party pushing ahead with political agenda with its parliamentary power, but a party taking a sensible approach.”
In the multi-party system, the new leader is seeking to boost her party’s presence by strengthening its independent stance.
Lee said for the past few months under the interim leadership the party focused too much on cooperation with other opposition parties, remaining hesitant in making its own decision while waiting to see the position of other opposition parties.
“Such a stance made us a nobody. We had no chance of promoting who we are, or what we believe,” she said.
She vowed to swiftly express the party’s position on the parliamentary agenda under her leadership. “If repeated, it will help us gain the public trust,” she said.
Born in Busan, Lee majored in economics at Seoul National University and earned a PhD at UCLA. She later worked as a researcher at the Korea Development Institute and taught economics at the University of Leicester.
The economic expert entered politics in 2002 to fill her father-in-law’s shoes. She attempted to run in the by-election for a parliamentary seat of Ulsan when her father-in-law and four-term lawmaker Kim Tae-ho passed away in the middle of his term there.
Though she failed to win the candidacy for an Ulsan constituency, she later won a parliamentary seat three times in Seocho, a wealthy district in southern Seoul.