By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The United New Democratic Party (UNDP) has been suffering from an internal feud regarding who will be its next leader.
Young party lawmakers are calling for selecting former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu as chairman under an in-house compromise. But senior members reiterated that the chairman should be elected during the national convention.
Sohn, however, has kept silent with regards to what he will do.
``Whether Sohn is elected or picked as party head under a compromise, the chairmanship of the embattled party will stain his reputation,'' said Rep. Woo Sang-ho, a former spokesman of Sohn. ``I believe he has no intention to leap into a leadership race.''
He added what matters more is how many seats the party can win in the April 9 general elections because the crushing defeat of UNDP candidate Chung Dong-young in the Dec. 19 presidential election will clearly shows the party will face difficulty in gaining a majority of seats in the National Assembly.
Some lawmakers who were first elected to the Assembly in 2004 urged senior members to cooperate in having the former governor as chairman.
``It is inappropriate if they stick to the party primary because most party members agreed to have Sohn as the next leader,'' a UNDP legislator said on condition of anonymity. ``We have no time to waste, so we will be more determined.''
On the other hand, Chyung Dai-chul, an adviser to the party, criticized the younger generation, insisting that naming the chairman without any voting process was unacceptable.
``If we select the next party head without a primary, the party will be embarrassed,'' he said. ``To revive the party, the candidate who gets a majority of votes through an election should head the party's collective leadership.''
Rep. Kim Han-gill supported this stance, saying the in-house race should take place in a national convention slated for Feb. 3.
Incumbent party leaders and members of the party's special committee to revamp its organization almost reached an agreement to have Sohn, who is regarded as a middle-of-the-road politician, head the party through an inter-faction compromise, party sources said.
Yet, mounting voices are against the move, thus so some members have suggested appointing an outside person as party chairman.
Sohn, the runner-up in the party's presidential nomination race last year, is mulling over his plans regarding the chairmanship while staying at a Buddhist temple in Gangwon Province, his confidants said.
Some party officials lamented that the internal feud over the election defeat is heading for a climax as party members shift the blame to each other and focus on finding a scapegoat.