By Yi Whan-woo
The minority opposition People’s Party is on the verge of a split after Rep. Kim Han-gil stepped down as head of its election planning committee, Friday, amid a row with founder and co-chairman Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo over an opposition alliance proposal.
Rep. Chun Jung-bae, the party’s other co-chairman, also vowed to boycott all party meetings unless Ahn withdraws his earlier decision not to form an alliance with the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK).
Analysts say their row over how to prepare for the April 13 general elections may lead to a split in the party, which was launched last month.
Kim Han-gil said he decided to quit in protest of Ahn’s decision not to join forces with the MPK for the general elections next month.
Ahn earlier refused MPK interim leader Kim Jong-in’s proposal to either merge their parties or form an alliance to win against the governing Saenuri Party.
“I realized that breaking a political system dominated by only two parties is extremely difficult in Korean politics,” Kim Han-gil told reporters.
“The People’s Party has to calmly yet objectively assess the current political circumstances and understand our role to prevent the ruling party from winning. As co-chair of the committee, I was responsible for commanding the election campaign and I just couldn’t do anything because of Ahn.”
Kim Han-gil is a founding member of the People’s Party launched by Ahn on Feb. 2.
Both Ahn and Kim Han-gil withdrew from the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), a predecessor of the MPK following Ahn’s internal power struggle with Rep. Moon Jae-in, a political heavyweight.
Some critics have speculated that Kim may quit the People’s Party as well, claiming the MPK may offer him a candidacy if he returns.
Meanwhile, Chun is also refusing to return to work in protest of Ahn’s rejection of the MPK’s offer.
Chun led the minority opposition People’s Council until January before joining hands with Ahn and forming a single party.
Both lawmakers have been critical of the main opposition for “being outdated” but Chun has been supportive of forming an alliance with the MPK as a political strategy.
The ruling Saenuri Party is also gripped in an escalating power struggle between factions affiliated with President Park Geun-hye and the party’s Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung.
The party’s nominations committee controlled by the pro-Park faction excluded Kim, a non-mainstreamer, from a group of 35 candidates chosen on Thursday for the parliamentary elections, fueling a factional rift within the party.
The Sanuri Party announced the list following a previous group of 32 candidates on March 4 for the April elections. Those on the list are given tickets to run in the election without primaries.
Led by Rep. Lee Han-koo, a Park loyalist, the committee faced protest from Kim’s followers and non-mainstreamers for excluding them.
Some of those excluded from the list are Reps. Park Min-shik and Kim Se-yeon.
Park Min-shik, who has represented Busan’s Gangseo A constituency, is Kim Moo-sung’s confidant.
Kim Se-yeon is close to Rep. Yoo Seong-min, the Saenuri Party’s outcast member. He was the party’s former floor leader but was forced to quit for upsetting President Park over his efforts to reform the National Assembly.