By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Chairman Kang Jae-sup of the Grand National Party (GNP) returned to his job Monday after a four-day seclusion following complaints about the party's nomination process for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Party leaders decided to allow people fined for Election Law violations to register their candidacy for the April 9 elections, which temporarily halted an internal feud over candidate selection criteria.
They are scheduled to meet today to confirm the agreement. But lawmakers loyal to former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye are still concerned about their chances to run in the election.
Since President-elect Lee Myung-bak won a landslide victory in December's presidential election, the conservative party has suffered a rift regarding who will gain a party ticket.
The rift between the two major factions ― pro-Park and pro-Lee lawmakers ― started from a clause in the party charter which bans a person found guilty of corruption from being nominated as a candidate.
Under the rule, three-term lawmaker Kim Moo-sung, a close confidant to Park, would not be entitled to run in the elections on the GNP's ticket. Thus, pro-Park lawmakers insisted on revising the clause.
They have reiterated their call for the resignation of Secretary-General Lee Bang-ho who criticized them for violating the rule.
``It means nothing to just revise the controversial clause. Unless the secretary-general, who was the spark for the feud steps down, nothing will be patched up,'' a GNP legislator said, asking to remain anonymous.
Other pro-Park lawmakers claim that they should withdraw the call for his resignation seeing the decision on revising the clause as progress.
They said Park loyalists should not stick to the resignation issue any longer since the party chairman had retracted his demand for Lee's resignation and one of their requests had been accepted.
Members of the group will meet at the Assembly Monday to finalize their stance on the nomination issue.