By Kim Ji-soo
Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader of the ruling Grand National Party, met with Rep. Park Geun-hye, former GNP chairwoman Thursday, in a closed session as the party struggles with ideas on reform and its future ahead of crucial elections next year.
In the meeting, Park opposed the party’s plan to revise party regulations to allow a possible presidential candidate to run for party leadership and vice versa, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Hwang reportedly asked Park’s cooperation on the party’s ongoing reform efforts and her help in next year’s general elections. Hwang is one of the two interim leaders as the GNP heads to a national convention on July 4 to pick a new chairperson to take them the into 2012 campaign year. GNP members are fiercely debating how to elect the new leadership and other reform measures. Conversely, Hwang has been saying that he hopes the environment develops into one that allows Park to work to her full capacity and that he intends to ask what she wants and how he can help bring that about.
The Hwang-Park meeting is significant in that pro-Park legislators in the GNP helped the neutral four-term lawmaker Hwang become floor leader, replacing the party leadership held by pro-President Lee Myung-bak legislators in the wake of a major defeat in the April 27 by-elections.
The shift in power dynamics in the GNP comes as the nation’s political community sets its sights on the general elections in April and the presidential election in December. The erstwhile party dynamics were clearly set in place after Park lost to the President in the 2007 party primary for the presidential candidacy. But now, Park, the daughter of the late former President Park Chung-hee, stands as the most favored presidential contender with support ratings in the 30-percent range. She is followed by another possible presidential bidder Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, who enjoys support in the 12-percent range. Rhyu Si-min, head of the People’s Participation Party, trails Sohn with a support rate that stands between 7 and 11 percent.
Hwang-Park meeting will be followed by a series of meetings between ruling party officials and the President. Hwang will meet with Lee Friday, while Park is expected to meet with him sometime next week to debrief the President on her trip to three European nations as a presidential envoy.