Parties prepare for leadership race

Candidates for chairmanship of the minor opposition Bareun Party hold hands during a policy debate at the Veritas Center on the Catholic University of Pusan in Busan, Friday. From left are Ha Tae-keung, Jeong Woon-chun, Lee Hye-hoon, and Kim Young-woo. / Yonhap

By Kim Hyo-jin

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and the minor opposition Bareun Party are looking for new leaders for their realignment following their defeat in the presidential election.

They will elect new leaders and members of the Supreme Council, a decision-making body, at their national conventions, the LKP’s on July 3 and Bareun’s on June 26.

New leaders will play a critical role in regaining public support and mapping out strategies for next year’s local elections.

At the LKP, three senior members ― Reps. Shin Sang-jin and Won Yoo-chul and former South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo ― are jockeying for the top position.

Hong, the party’s presidential candidate, is a frontrunner, party officials say. During the election campaign, he criticized those loyal to former President Park Geun-hye, but has recently embraced them in an apparent move to draw their votes.

Asked at a candidate debate session on Tuesday how he planned to clear out Park loyalists, he replied, “First, we need to separate those who were involved in irregularities that disrupted state management from those who simply supported the Park government as ruling party members.”

He is expected to highlight the party’s right-wing stance further should he take power. At the first debate among chairman hopefuls Monday, he stressed the need to toughen the party’s ideological agenda, calling the Moon Jae-in administration “a group of North Korea sympathizers.”

Eight candidates are running for four Supreme Council member posts. Except Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, the rest are categorized as pro-Park figures, including Reps. Bak Maeng-woo and Kim Tae-heum.

Although they may join the leadership, it is doubtful they can help the Park loyalists. The faction has already disintegrated since Park was ousted and imprisoned over the corruption scandal.

At the Bareun Party, the contest has become a four-way competition. Three-term lawmakers Kim Young-woo and Lee Hye-hoon, two-termer Ha Tae-keung and first-termer Jeong Woon-chun are jostling for the leadership.

The one who gains the most votes will be chairperson and the others will become members of the Supreme Council.

The candidates all agree on the need for a new conservative approach to the needs of the weak and the poor.

During a policy debate on June 17, they all pointed out the conservative bloc lost the presidential election because it represented the interests of those with vested rights.

The four contenders are not showing any distinctive political vision from one other ― whoever earns the backing of Rep. Yoo Seong-min, the party’s former presidential candidate, is likely to secure the chairman post, according to party officials.

Eyes are on the choice of about 10,000 party members, mostly Yoo’s fans who joined the party during the presidential campaign. Yoo has remained neutral without supporting anyone, although Rep. Lee Hye-hoon is labeled as a Yoo follower.