Main opposition party to operate under emergency committee
Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, center, floor leader and acting-chairman of the main opposition United Future Party, speaks during a press briefing after the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday, to announce the party's decision to launch an emergency committee and ask Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician, to head the committee. The announcement came a week after the main opposition party's “crushing” defeat against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun
Veteran economist-turned-politician to head United Future Party
By Jung Da-min
The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) will form an emergency committee and ask Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician, to head the committee, party floor leader Rep. Shim Jae-cheol said after the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly, Wednesday.
“According to a survey of the total 142 incumbent lawmakers and lawmakers-elect in which 140 of them participated, more than half of the respondents said they support the plan to operate the party under an emergency committee headed by Kim Chong-in,” Shim said during a press conference after the meeting. “We are planning to initiate working-level procedures such as organizing a national committee meeting, starting early next week.”
The announcement came a week after the UFP suffered a “crushing” defeat against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) in the April 15 general election to form the 21st National Assembly. The UFP won 84 seats through the first-past-the-post vote in 253 constituencies, while the DPK won almost double that number, taking 163 seats. In the proportional representation vote for the remaining 47 seats out of the 300-seat National Assembly, the “satellite” parties of the UFP and DPK won 19 seats and 17 seats, respectively.
The defeat has caused a vacuum in the party leadership, as most of the party leaders failed to win seats, including Shim and former party chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, who resigned from the party post last Wednesday to take responsibility for the party's defeat.
Adding to the crisis were internal disputes over who should take responsibility for the election results and who should take over party leadership. Shim, who is holding the acting chairman position following Hwang's resignation, decided to conduct the survey of incumbent lawmakers and lawmakers-elect.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Kim said during a radio interview on local broadcaster CBS that he could accept the UFP's call to head the emergency committee, provided the UFP scraps its plan to hold an early party convention in July or August and instead secures enough time for the emergency committee to prepare for the next presidential election in 2022. Known for his political career as a “kingmaker” who helped the victories of the conservative camp in the 2012 general election and the liberal camp in the 2016 general election, he had led the UFP's election committee in this year's election after being scouted by then-Chairman Hwang just three weeks ahead of it.
Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician who had headed the main opposition United Future Party's election committee, speaks during a press conference, last Thursday, a day after the April 15 general election to form the 21st National Assembly. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun
“The emergency committee would be meaningless unless it could thoroughly prepare for the next presidential election,” Kim said. “The remaining tenure for the incumbent President has less than two years left and the party's nomination of its presidential candidate must start by around March or April next year.”
But the internal feuds within the UFP are likely to continue as some of its lawmakers-elect expressed discontent over Shim's decision to conduct the survey of the incumbent lawmakers and lawmakers-elect, saying the more urgent task is to hold a general meeting among lawmakers-elect and to elect a new party chairman.
Rep. Chung Jin-suk, who won this year's election to become a five-term lawmaker, accused Shim of “abusing his authority” as the acting chairman. “It is like someone who is moving out of a house insisting he will make sure to repair its damaged interior.”