By Chung Min-uck
Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of the interim leadership committee of the ruling Saenuri Party, Wednesday pledged to make a break from the party’s past in the lead up to the April 11 general election.
The ruling party has recently been hit with a series of corruption scandals involving its former party chairman and close aides of President Lee Myung-bak.
“The Saenuri Party and I will separate ourselves completely from past faults and look to the future,” said Park during a radio speech. “The April general election should not focus on debates over who was right or wrong in the past. It should concentrate on the future.”
Observers say the comments made by the presidential hopeful are meant to distance herself and the ruling party from the Lee administration.
The April election is considered an indicator for the outcome of the presidential vote slated for December.
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) has been launching a full-fledged attack on the ruling party over the vote-buying case of former National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae and former senior presidential aide Kim Hyo-jae during the ruling party's 2008 leadership election.
In line with the remarks, Park also announced policies that feature a revision of the President Lee’s growth-oriented economic policies.
Park pledged compensation to subcontractors who have been forced to supply materials to big conglomerates at unreasonably low prices and ban “super-supermarkets” from setting up shop in small cities.
She also promised efforts to scrap the status of irregular workers in all government institutions and state-owned companies by 2015.
“I will push for a democratic economy by restoring the market economy order,” said Park. “I promise to the people that (the Saenuri Party) will try its best to make reforms and create a government that keeps its promise to the people.”
As elections near, the ruling party is focusing on differentiating itself from the Lee administration given the President’s waning popularity.
Lee’s growth-first economic policies have been criticized for squeezing the nation’s middle-class and deepening the problem of social polarization.