Main opposition party far from new start
Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, left, floor leader and acting chairman of the main opposition United Future Party, shakes hands with Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician who had headed the party's election campaign committee for the April 15 general election, in front of Kim's house in Seoul, Tuesday. After the election defeat, the UFP planned to form an emergency committee headed by Kim, but the plan now seems unfeasible as the party failed to meet Kim's conditions that the party does not limit his term and power but instead give enough time so he can get the party prepared for the 2022 presidential election. Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) is facing multiple hurdles in its attempts to normalize its operations and make a new start following its crushing defeat against the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) in the April 15 general election.
Its members have been split over whether to appoint Kim Chong-in, a veteran economist and politician who headed the party's election strategy committee, to head an emergency committee for reform. The split is raising speculations that the UFP's leadership vacuum will continue for the time being.
UFP floor leader Shim Jae-cheol, who's leading the party as acting chairman after former chief Hwang Kyo-ahn stepped down to take responsibility for the party's election defeat, announced last week that the party would form an emergency committee and ask Kim to lead it.
Kim stipulated that he would only accept the position if he was granted unlimited power and time to prepare the party for the 2022 presidential election. These conditions mean he would continue to lead the UFP even after the party holds its planned convention around July or August to select a party chairman and other Supreme Council members.
To discuss meeting his conditions, the UFP was supposed to hold a meeting of the party's senior officials from across the country on Tuesday afternoon to scrap its party rule that a convention should be held by Aug. 31.
But the meeting was not held as it did not meet the quorum. Only 17 members, less than half out of the 45, attended. It was said that senior officials who were against Kim taking the leadership position dissuaded others from attending.
Later in the day, the UFP held another meeting of lower-level party members, in which 323 members out of the total 639 attended and approved Kim's appointment to head the emergency committee.
The UFP's emergency committee, if launched, would be operating for about three to four months until the party convention.
Apparently dissatisfied with the outcome, Kim said he did not regard it as an approval for his leadership. But he did not clearly say he would not take the post.
Shim visited Kim's home Tuesday night to discuss the matter but failed to persuade him. “I just had wine with Kim,” Shim told reporters after the 30-minute face-to-face meeting.
While Shim and other ranking officials are continuing to try to persuade Kim, those opposing him are also raising their voices, with expectations high that the internal feud is likely to prolong the UFP's leadership vacuum.
Some party members have publicly expressed complaints over Shim's “abuse of power” as the acting chairman, saying the party should first elect a new floor leader and let the new leader solve the problem.
“I hope the party will let go of the idea of Kim's emergency committee when such discussions are nothing but a waste of time which reproduce conflicts,” Rep. Chang Je-won, a two-term lawmaker with the UFP who was reelected on April 15, wrote on Facebook, Wednesday.