By Kang Hyun-kyung
The ruling party unveiled a new red-colored logo Tuesday, discarding the blue-colored one which it had held as its trademark for 16 years.
According to Cho Dong-won, the party’s public relations manager, white in the logo symbolizes the color of clothes worn by old Koreans and red indicates passion and enthusiasm.
During a meeting held in the National Assembly, the ruling party lawmakers also approved its new name, the Saenuri Party.
Since the name was announced last week, there was a backlash from within. Several lawmakers, including Reps. Chung Doo-un and Nam Kyung-phil, called “Saenuri” lackluster, saying it was not strong enough to refer to the ruling party and carried an unclear message.
Nam blamed the ruling party leadership for rushing to announce the name without having a full discussion with party members before making the announcement.
A Recent Realmeter poll found more people believed it was not appealing ― only 21 percent of respondents said they like it, against nearly 40 percent who didn’t.
Lawmakers said some of them were opposed to the name but the majority of the party members voted for it.
The ruling party decided on the Saenuri based on poll results.