Loyalists go all out to defend Park
Former Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min, left, talks with fellow lawmaker Na Kyung-won during a meeting of Saenuri lawmakers aligned against President Park Geun-hye, at the National Assembly, Wednesday. / Yonhap
They are shameless, lunatic, critics say
By Kim Hyo-jin
Rival factions of the Saenuri Party clashed, Wednesday, for control of the ruling party reeling from a deepening power struggle following the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
Park loyalists and her rivals criticized each other at the party’s first general meeting held since the impeachment vote last Friday.
The anti-Park faction denounced the loyalist leadership for unilaterally filling the party’s ethics committee with members of their own group.
On Tuesday, the party leadership abruptly appointed on additional eight members to the committee, putting the brakes on its deliberation on potential disciplinary action against Park.
The move brought a severe backlash from the seven existing members including committee head Lee Jin-gon. They resigned en masse in protest later in the day.
“The appointments should be withdrawn,” Park dissenter Rep. Lee Eun-jae shouted.
Chung Jin-suk, the party’s floor leader unaffiliated with the feuding factions, also lashed out at the loyalists, saying people call it a “lunatic” move.
Rep. Cho Won-jin, a decision-making Supreme Council party member, refused the calls but, conscious of criticism, added that the matter will be discussed again when a new leadership is formed.
The Saenuri Party is scheduled to hold a party convention to elect a chairman on Jan. 21 as Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, a diehard supporter of Park, earlier pledged to step down on Dec. 21 to take responsibility for Park’s impeachment.
Park loyalists in charge of the party leadership have engaged in a power struggle with anti-Park faction in the wake of the corruption scandal involving the President and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
The anti-Park faction, consisting of some 40 Saenuri lawmakers, has called on the loyalists to be held responsible for Park’s botched state management that prompted her impeachment.
The pro-Park leadership led by Lee Jung-hyun has refused to resign immediately while vowing to renew the party under their initiative.
The factional strife has turned ugly in the wake of the impeachment vote.
Former party leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung, a de facto head of the anti-Park faction, denounced Lee and other Park loyalists for avoiding accountability in the fallout of the impeachment, calling them Park’s “slaves” rather than “political partners.”
Rep. Hwang Young-cheul, a spokesman of the faction, pinpointed eight staunch Park loyalists including Lee and former Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan as failing aides to Park, describing them as “Choi Soon-sil’s men.” The eight later sued Hwang on charges of defamation.
Meanwhile, Lee Jang-woo, a loyalist, taunted his rivals, saying they “acted evilly as they had deserted their own parents or children.”
The impeachment motion, passed by 234 votes to 56, was supported by the opposition and anti-Park Saenuri Party lawmakers. Given all 172 opposition and independent lawmakers are expected to have voted for the impeachment, 62 votes came from the ruling party.
The feud over party hegemony appears to be moving onto an upcoming race to elect a new floor leader. Chung, having been seen as sandwiched between the warring factions, expressed his intention to step down as the floor leader, Monday, saying he will take responsibility for Park’s impeachment.
Each faction put forward a single candidate later in the day.
Rep. Na Kyung-won from the rival faction will compete with Chung Woo-taik from the loyalist faction, Friday, according to lawmakers.
If Chung secures the seat, the rival faction’s move to quit the party will accelerate, party officials view.