Kim gains speed in leadership race
By Kim Jung-yoon
Rep. Kim Han-gil’s political aspirations in the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) gathered momentum Wednesday as the nation’s largest umbrella labor group officially announced its support for his bid for the party’s chairmanship.
The Federation of Korean Trade Union (FKTU) said that its 20 policy representatives at the DUP decided that Kim was the most eligible candidate to realize the value of labor.
On its official website, it said Kim was most likely to enable the party to win the presidential election by mobilizing centrist forces and successfully cementing the party’s unity.
“In this election, we stand for Rep. Kim Han-gil, but we must make sure that there is no change in our general stance that we equally respect both the frontrunner Kim and his rival candidate Rep. Lee Hae-chan,” said the FKTU Chairman Lee Yong-deuk.
Kim, who has emerged as frontrunner of the race has defeated Lee in eight out of 10 regional elections held so far. Lee faces an uphill battle to convince party delegates that he is still the most qualified candidate to prepare the DUP for the upcoming presidential vote.
As each voter casts two ballots, the organization said, its internal departments will also decide on another runner, besides Kim, to support.
Meanwhile, Kim’s side blasted the DUP interim leader Rep. Park Jie-won for pleading with the chairman of the FKTU and its leadership to support Lee in the remaining regional elections, mobile and on-site voting during a private dinner.
Park, the party’s floor leader, who wields considerable influence allegedly agreed to a secretive power-sharing alliance with Lee, drawing a backlash from many DUP members.
However, despite the backing of two party heavyweights Park Jie-won and Moon Jae-in, a presumptive presidential hopeful of the DUP, the “backdoor dealing” between Lee and the floor leader has done more harm than good.
The result of the race still remains to be seen as the regional votes cast since May 21 make up less than one third of the total ballots allotted to party delegates in the leadership election.
Besides the last two elections in Seoul and Gyeonggi, the remaining 70 percent will be decided by ordinary party members and average voters through a separate mobile and on-site voting, which will take place on June 5 and 8, respectively.
On the other hand, a fan club of former lawmaker Jeong Bong-ju recently announced its official support for Lee after formerly proclaiming his desire to rescue Jeong from prison.
Jeong was sentenced to a year in jail for “spreading false information” about President Lee Myung-bak in contravention of election and defamation laws.
The number of voters from the pro-Jeong forces accounts for 16,000 out of the total 125,000 average voters who have registered to select the party leader.
jykim@koreatimes.co.kr