elect GNP to Scrutinize New Party Nominee
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The Grand National Party (GNP) swiftly turned aggressive Monday after the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) nominated former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young as its presidential candidate.
The main opposition GNP established an in-house team to scrutinize Chung.
The party also announced that it will seek a coalition with groups enjoying support in the western part of the country ahead of the December presidential election.
To date, the voting pattern of the residents living in the region showed strong support for liberal candidates.
Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, a former senior prosecutor, leads the GNP's in-house team backed up by 10 party officials.
Their main duties are gathering data and intelligence regarding the former unification minister's possible involvement in any corruption cases through phone calls and e-mails from the public.
A party official working with the team said in an interview that the team has already obtained ``several pieces of hard evidence'' indicating that Chung has been involved in irregularities.
They said that they plan to disclose these results at an appropriate time during the presidential campaign.
The GNP said in a statement that Chung is one of the inner circle members of the now-disbanded Uri Party which it claims is mainly responsible for the mismanagement of the nation's economy.
The GNP linked Chung to President Roh, saying that the former unification minister is one of the core members who helped Roh win the 2002 presidential election.
As to the possible coalition with groups based in the west, GNP leaders have the People First Party (PFP) in mind, sources said. The PFP is widely supported by residents in the Chungcheong provinces and holds five parliamentary seats.
Rep. Sim Dae-pyung was chosen as the PFP's presidential nominee on Oct. 10.
Sim said in a recent interview that he has no plan to withdraw his bid for the presidency to support another candidate. He said he will continue to fight to the end.
However, he said he had a ``pretty good impression'' about GNP nominee Lee Myung-bak and they are close.
Lee said that getting more support from voters in those provinces especially counts in this election.
He lamented that the conservative GNP has failed to get enough support from South and North Jeolla provinces in previous elections.
The December election should be different and the GNP has a good chance for getting more support in these regions as more residents there have begun to show a pragmatic attitude on the election, Lee said.