By Kim Hyo-jin
A factional conflict is looming again in the ruling Saenuri Party following its week-long boycott of the National Assembly audits, Monday.
At the center of the budding feud is Rep. Kim Young-woo, the chair of the Assembly’s National Defense Committee who presided over the audit session last week in defiance of party leadership.
Kim was the only chairman from the ruling party to open the session. The remaining chairpeople did not attend the session in protest of National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, calling for his resignation.
Some lawmakers affiliated with President Park Geun-hye raised their voices, urging the leadership to bring Kim to disciplinary action.
But members of party factions not aligned with the President defended him, saying he was just fulfilling his obligation as the head of the committee amid worsening national security.
The difference of opinions could be inflated into a factional feud if the leadership moves to punish Kim for his unilateral decision, party officials said.
“Personal conviction is important, but if you want to only follow personal conviction, you should desert your party membership and be an independent lawmaker,” Kim Tae-heum, a Saenuri lawmaker and supporter of the President, said in a radio interview. “Lawmakers are taking issue with his attitude and most of them are in favor of making him go through the disciplinary procedure.”
Another Park loyalist denounced Kim, saying, “Kim attended the audit, stressing the importance of national security. It made other lawmakers participating in the boycott look dumb.”
However, Gyeonggi Governor Nam Kyung-pil, who is aligned with the non-loyalists, backed Kim. “He upheld Saenuri’s values and was responsible for being the neutral committee chair, which rather deserves praise, not punishment,” he said.
The boycott revealed a chasm between the factions last week.
While the Park loyalist adhered to their hard-line stance, refusing to attend the audit sessions until the speaker steps down, lawmakers in other party factions argued that the party should return to the sessions, mounting their protest differently.
Amid brewing controversy over Kim’s action, Rep. Yoo Seong-min, a former floor leader and non-loyalist, said sarcastically, “I don’t believe the party wouldn act mindlessly by punishing Kim for that reason.” Yoo earlier noted, “I’m 100 percent with Kim.”
The ruling Saenuri Party ended its week-long boycott, Sunday, after its chairman stopped his hunger strike due to deteriorating health.
Party officials said its leadership found it burdensome to extend the boycott because it could worsen public sentiment toward the party and further aggravate intra-party conflicts between supporters and opponents of the boycott.