People's Party split over Ahn's leadership bid

By Choi Ha-young

Ahn Cheol-soo

Rep. Chun Jung-bae

Rep. Chung Dong-young

The People’s Party leadership race is being thrown into turmoil after two candidates ― Reps. Chun Jung-bae and Chung Dong-young ― openly criticized former party leader and presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, Sunday.

Ahn unexpectedly announced his bid for the party chairmanship, Thursday, drawing harsh criticism from the other contenders and some party members.

The three candidates held separate press conferences to make their own cases.

Chun urged Ahn to withdraw from the leadership race, reiterating the former presidential candidate’s responsibility for the defeat in the May presidential election.

“Ahn has the largest responsibility of any of the party members for the election defeat,” the six-term lawmaker said. “His bid for the party chairmanship shows how he is shameless and ignores party members.”

Chun, who represents a district in Gwangju, called on the party to respect the voters in the Jeolla provinces, the traditional stronghold of liberals, in which most of its lawmakers are based.

“Voters in the Jeolla provinces threw their full support for the People’s Party in the general election last year, which made us the third largest party in the National Assembly,” he said.

The message criticizes Ahn who has touted “radical centrism” for the party’s future path, implying possible cooperation and an alliance with the minor conservative Bareun Party. For those from the Jeolla region, Ahn’s call is a warning of a possible ouster of liberal members from the party, which may lead to its breakup.

Later in the afternoon, Rep. Chung also blasted Ahn, the co-founder of the party. “For the last year-and- a half, one person’s shade has dominated the party. The People’s Party is not a private group owned by a certain person. This was the fundamental reason for the fabrication scandal,” Chung said.

In recent days, the minor liberal party has suffered from less than a 5 percent support rate, hit by the scandal in which some party members were arrested and indicted for fabricating voice recordings in a smear campaign against the then-leading presidential candidate Moon Jae-in. Ahn’s associates were at the center of the scandal.

Chung, who is against Ahn’s focus on centrism, urged the party take a decisive step toward a fundamental reform of the nation. “The People’s Party should hit the vested interests of the family-run conglomerates, academics, media and the prosecution,” he told reporters. The four-term lawmaker is also a bigwig elected from Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.

In response to the attacks, Ahn unfolded his renovation plan to rescue the scandal-hit party at a press conference on the same day. “The People’s Party should be a small but strong opposition party. The ongoing leadership race is an opportunity to choose a chairman who can revamp the party under crisis,” the entrepreneur-turned-politician said, rolling up his sleeves to reveal his determination.

He reiterated “pragmatism” to combat the ideological clash between the two major parties ― the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the conservative Liberty Korea Party. “The People’s Party is widely recognized with our key slogan: conservative in national security, progressive in economics and reformist in politics,” Ahn said.

He criticized his two rivals saying he does not intend to kindle an internal feud in the People’s Party. After Ahn declared his bid Thursday in which he emphasized “radical centrism,” he drew enormous criticism from party members based in the Jeolla provinces. Right after the announcement, two rival candidates backed by the region along with 12 lawmakers called for him to drop his bid.

Some senior politicians who follow ex-President Kim Dae-jung’s legacy are joining hands to nullify Ahn’s party membership.

Regionalism has been a source of conflict in the second-largest liberal party. The party is composed of liberals based in the Jeolla provinces; some politicians who broke away from the conservative bloc; and political rookies.