Saenuri to pick interim leader this week

Former National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyung-oh, left, and Kim Hee-ok, former chairman of the Government Public Ethics Committee, are among candidates for the interim leader of the ruling Saenuri Party.

By Kim Hyo-jin

The ruling Saenuri Party will select an interim leader by the end of this week, party officials said Tuesday.

The person selected, who will serve as head of the party’s emergency planning committee, will head the party until it holds a caucus to elect a new chairman and members of the decision-making Supreme Council in July or August.

On Monday, the party’s floor leader Chung Jin-suk agreed with former party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung and former Finance Minister Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan to recruit an interim leader from outside the party.

Choi is the de-facto leader of a faction affiliated with President Park Geun-hye and Kim represents the voices of those who are not.

The committee is tasked with getting the party back on track following a defeat in the general election last month.

Potential candidates for the interim leader are Park Sang-jeung, president of Korea Democracy Foundation; Kim Hee-ok, former chairman of the Government Public Ethics Committee; Kim Jin-hyun, former minister of science and technology; and Kim Hyung-oh, former National Assembly speaker.

“It’s highly likely that the announcement will come within this week,” a party official said.

The party had been adrift without a leadership since pro-Park lawmakers boycotted a party meeting convened by Chung to approve his reform plans, saying he excluded pro-Park lawmakers from major committees.

Park loyalists reportedly recommended Park Sang-jeung and Kim Hee-ok.

Park served as a co-head of the Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), the liberal civic group, and the first executive director of the Beautiful Fund, the philanthropic organization.

Kim, who started off his career as a prosecutor, is a former vice justice minister, judge of the Constitutional Court, and president of the Dongguk University.

They have not engaged in politics but have long been talked as potential aides to President Park Geun-hye in the governing bloc.

However, lawmakers not affiliated to Park reportedly preferred former National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyung-oh. Kim is a former journalist who won a parliamentary seat in Yeongdo, Busan for five consecutive terms.

Kim Jin-hyun, the former minister, was reportedly recommended by Kim Moo-sung. Kim, a journalist-turned-public officer, also served as president of the University of Seoul in the 1990s.