LKP abandons former President Park
By Kim Hyo-jin
Park Geun-hye
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) asked former President Park Geun-hye and two of her loyalists to leave the party, Friday.
If Park does not leave voluntarily, the party can expel her in 10 days, according to the party’s regulations.
The two loyalists, Reps. Suh Chung-won and Choi Kyung-hwan, can remain in the party, because according to the party rules an incumbent lawmaker can be expelled only with approval from two-thirds of the party lawmakers. If Suh and Choi refuse to quit voluntarily, the party is expected to hold a general meeting sometime in November after the National Assembly audit of government offices ends.
The LKP ethics committee approved these disciplinary measures against them for damaging the party’s reputation with a corruption and influence-peddling scandal that led to her ouster in March.
The decision triggered backlash from lawmakers still loyal to the former president.
Rep. Kim Tae-heum said the party has not given enough time for Park to consider quitting voluntarily.
“It’s only been two to three days since the party unofficially recommended she quit voluntarily. She needs more time to decide her fate by herself,” he said in a statement. “If the party is now hurriedly dealing with the membership of Park, mindful of the merger with the Bareun Party, then it is more wrong.”
The pro-Park lawmakers took aim at LKP Hong Joon-pyo who called for the ethics committee meeting.
“What kind of benefits do we get by expelling Park?” Rep. Jeong Kab-yoon asked. “It’s not late if we discuss the matter after her first hearing is done.”
Rep. Kim Jin-tae wrote in a Facebook post Thursday: “It’s not right to do this to her. She is in such a miserable situation…Hong said it was to ask Park to take political responsibility, but then, why doesn’t he take responsibility for his crushing defeat in the presidential election?”
With an official split with Park, the LKP is expected to speed up its move to merge with its breakaway group Bareun Party.
Bareun Party lawmakers have called on the LKP leadership to expel the ousted president and key pro-Park lawmakers as a compulsory requirement for their return or a possible party-to-party merge.
LKP Chairman Hong expressed a strong will to merge the conservative parties, saying, “It will be done within this month.”
Hong said he will hold a Supreme Council meeting after he came back from his six-day trip to the U.S. next week and confirm the ethics committee’s decision.
The party earlier delivered its position to Park through multiple channels, according to party officials. But Park reportedly showed a negative response, noting “it is not understandable.”
LKP secretary-general Hong Moon-pyo said he had sought to contact her former lawyer Yoo Yeong-ha, but to no avail.
Park has been jailed while on trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power for six months.
Following the court’s decision to extend her detention for another six months last week, she has boycotted the trial and claimed her human rights have been violated at the detention center.
Commentators say her move came in a bid to seek a way-out from the no-win legal process by mobilizing her supporters and politicizing the issue.