Where is the ruling Saenuri Party headed? Looking at the suicidal in-party fighting, many supporters of the conservative party must be feeling that it is on the path to defeat in the December presidential election.
One factor fueling the worsening conflicts is resentment among the party’s lawmakers who are not included in the campaign team for its presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye.
The recent drop in Park’s approval ratings led a group of young lawmakers to demand an overhaul of the party’s leadership and Park’s campaign team as they are failing to run an effective election campaign.
The lawmakers attributed Park’s problems in connecting with people to the officials around her, saying they cut off the candidate from active communication with people both inside and outside of the party.
In response to the demand, Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan has stepped down as Park’s chief of staff. Yet his resignation was not enough to satisfy them.
The lawmakers demanded that others, including party chairman Hwang Woo-yea and floor leader Lee Hahn-koo, all quit, making room for people who could broaden the support base for the presidential candidate.
The call for an across-the-board reshuffle was too much for Park to swallow. As she said, overhauling the party’s leadership and the campaign team with only 70 days left before the voting day would be tantamount to giving up the election altogether.
Yet she needs to accommodate the lawmakers’ demands partially, by removing some of the officials in the campaign team who are accused of abusing their power.
She also needs to exercise her leadership to pull the party together. She should create space for the alienated lawmakers to pitch in for her election campaign.
Park also has to resolve the confrontation between Ahn Dae-hee, a former Supreme Court justice who was invited to chair the party’s political reform committee, and Han Gwang-ok, former chief of staff to the late President Kim Dae-jung who was appointed as head of the party’s national unity committee.
Park invited Han to win votes in the Jeolla region. But Ahn is against Han’s appointment on the grounds that he was convicted in 2003 of taking bribes from a businessman.
Ahn threatened to step down unless Park withdrew Han’s appointment, saying that no one would believe Saenuri’s commitment to political reform should it appoint a man with criminal record to an important post.
Ahn’s point is valid, but Han is also important for Park as she desperately needs to broaden her support base in the opposition party’s bastion. Park may have to adjust the role that Han is expected to play.
Park should hurry to prevent the conflicts from further spoiling her campaigning. She needs to bring alienated lawmakers into the fold and arrange for all party members to pull their weight.
