Saenuri split looming large

Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, speaks to reporters in front of his office at the National Assembly, Tuesday. Lee, a staunch loyalist to President Park Geun-hye, has refused to step down despite growing calls from party members to do so. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo, Kim Hyo-jin

Concerns about a split in the ruling Saenuri Party are looming large as a factional conflict over how to deal with the political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye’s confidant is worsening.

The President’s loyalists are locking horns with a rival faction over the resignation of the party leadership, composed of Park loyalists, due to its failure to monitor the presidential office over the scandal, in which Choi Soon-sil, Park’s longtime friend with no official government job, greatly intervened in state affairs.

The scandal has sent the party’s approval rating plummeting to 21.4 percent, Monday, compared with 33 percent for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

As a result, the rival faction urges Chairman Lee Jung-hyun and other leaders to step down, taking responsibility for the political turmoil, only to be rejected repeatedly.

“Despite repeated calls for the resignation, the party leadership stands pat,” said Rep. Kim Sung-tae in a radio interview, Tuesday. “If they continue to refuse to resign, we have no choice but to split.”

Some non-mainstream lawmakers are pushing for a separate leadership within the party to oust the pro-Park faction from the party.

Also on Tuesday, floor leader Chung Jin-suk renewed his call for the leadership to quit.

“It is not the right choice that they continue refusing to resign,” Chung said in a party meeting, adding that their resignation is the bare minimum response to public anger over the scandal.

“After their rejection on Monday, there are emerging whispers over a party split.”

Former chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung urged the party leaders to step down, Monday, while demanding that President Park give up her Saenuri membership, but Lee, instead, vowed to step down in the near future after managing the crisis, and help the President who is in crisis.

Amid the deepening feuds, rival lawmakers clashed head-on with Park loyalists over the scandal during a party meeting, Tuesday.

Rep. Ha Tae-keung, a member of the rival faction, criticized the pro-Park leadership, taking issue with its defensive stance over the scandals surrounding the Mir and K-Sports foundations during the previous National Assembly audit. The two non-profit foundations, controlled by Choi, collected some 80 billion won ($70.4 million) from the nation’s major conglomerates, using her ties to the President.

He claimed the leadership ordered lawmakers to protest the opposition’s move to call in key witnesses over the allegations.

In the face of Ha’s accusations that the leadership worked in favor of the scandal-ridden figure, Park’s defenders responded sensitively.

Rep. Kim Do-eup, deputy floor leader, stormed out of the meeting room, shouting, “No ordered you to protest against the opposition.”

Amid the rising tensions within the party, some non-mainstream lawmakers have quit the party’s official posts in a move to press the party leadership.

Rep. Na Kyung-won resigned from her post as chief of the recruitment committee, Tuesday, becoming the fourth Assembly member from the party to do so.

“My resignation means my clear disapproval of the current leadership,” Na said.