Factional disputes within opposition still persist

Rep. Moon Hee-sang, left, interim leader of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), shakes hands with Lee Hee-ho, the widow of the late President Kim Dae-jung, during a visit to Kim’s grave at the National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, Seoul, Tuesday. The late President is seen as an iconic democracy figure among the opposition lawmakers. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

Factional disputes within the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) showed no signs of abating Tuesday despite interim leader Rep. Moon Hee-sang declaring an end to such conflicts.

During a meeting of the party’s emergency planning committee Monday, Moon told members, “Factionalism will no longer exist in the NPAD.”

But the five-term lawmaker is already facing complaints from fellow lawmakers, especially those who believe they were excluded from the formation of the committee.

Monday’s meeting was the first since he was appointed chairman of the committee last week.

His current task is to lead the party until a new NPAD chairman is elected at a national convention slated for early next year.

Moon selected four members, Reps. Moon Jae-in, Chung Sye-kyun, Park Jie-won and In Jae-keun as members of the committee; each represents a different party faction. Rep. Park Young-sun was included automatically because she is the floor leader of the party.

Moon Jae-in represents the political legacy of the late President Roh Moo-hyun for whom he was chief of staff. Park Jie-won is regarded as a follower of the late President Kim Dae-jung. Chung allegedly embraces both these factions.

Naming them as members was construed as an effort by the chairman to resolve the factional conflicts that have been cited as the biggest causes of the opposition’s low support.

However, middle-of-the-roaders within the party, especially those who rally around former co-chairmen Kim Han-gil and Ahn Cheol-soo, cynically dismissed the formation as “a league of their own,” because none of them were invited to join the committee.

Former opposition presidential candidate and NPAD senior adviser Chung Dong-young said Monday, “The formation is not an attempt to clear up factionalism, but the declaration of a monopoly by certain factions.”

Chung continued: “They are attempting to use the emergency committee to dominate the party ahead of the national convention.”

Fifty centrist lawmakers attended a luncheon meeting, also on Monday, and decided to ask the chairman to include one of them as a member of the committee.

Some members complained that only people from the now-defunct Democratic Party (DP) participated in the committee, while none of Ahn’s confidants were included. The NPAD is a coalition between the former Democratic Party and Ahn’s supporters.

For his part, three-term lawmaker Cho Kyoung-tae, a noted hardliner, called for dissolving the largest opposition party at the earliest possible date.

In an effort to remove concerns over the deepening internal conflict, Chung Sye-kyun told reporters: “The fears will prove groundless. I never thought about factions when I accepted a request to participate in the committee.”

Meanwhile, Moon is also facing the hard task of resolving different opinions among the members of the committee regarding the proposed special Sewol bill. Moon indicated that he could take a step back from the NPAD’s existing stance of complying with requests from the bereaved families regarding the content of the bill _ that it should provide for the formation of a fact-finding committee with full investigative powers as well as legal powers to indict those suspected of direct or associated actions that led to the sinking of the ferry Sewol on April 16 with the loss of more than 300 people, most of them schoolchildren.

But Chung and In have demanded that the opposition maintain its position regarding the bill.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye