Rep. Kim eyes duel with Park loyalists

Kim Moo-sung

By Kim Hyo-jin

Former Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung is making efforts to unite party members who have distanced themselves from President Park Geun-hye, posing a hurdle to the pro-Park faction seeking to regain control of the ruling party.

Park loyalists criticized Kim, Friday, for escalating a factional division ahead of Tuesday’s party caucus, in which the party will elect its new leader and members of the decision-making Supreme Council.

They suspect that Kim is pulling strings behind candidates who are not affiliated with Park so that he can win their support for a potential presidential bid next year.

Two of the five contenders in the party leadership race ― anti-Park faction Reps. Joo Ho-young and Choung Byoung-gug ― made an alliance, Friday, with Choung dropping his bid and promising to support Joo, setting the stage for a showdown between supporters of the President and her critics within the party.

The other three candidates ― former senior presidential secretary for public relations Lee Jung-hyun, ex-maritime minister Lee Ju-young and Han Sun-kyo ― are all Park loyalists.

Party officials said that Rep. Kim Hack-yong, former chief secretary of Kim Moo-sung, encouraged the two candidates to join hands.

Some analysts figured that Kim is seeking to expand his influence in the party, eyeing a presidential candidacy in the 2017 race.

“Kim is working on rearranging the power structure,” said Hwang Tae-soon, a senior analyst at Wisdom Center. “He is intentionally driving a wedge between the competing factions, aiming at realigning the lawmakers to center around him.”

On Wednesday, Kim expressed support for candidates of the non-Park faction saying, “Choung and Joo will reach a conclusion soon on whether to field a single candidate for the leadership race. I will support whoever it will be.”

He also raised his voice against the President, criticizing her plan to meet Saenuri lawmakers whose base is the party’s stronghold of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. He accused her of exerting influence in the party’s election by backing her supporters.

“I don’t think it’s the right thing to do ahead of the party convention,” he told reporters.

Park on Thursday had a meeting with the lawmakers as a move to appease public anger over the government’s decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

Kim took flak from Park followers. They accused Kim of meddling in the election and putting light on the factional division. Some argued that he should face a penalty at the party level for making naked remarks about the party election.