[Editorial] GNP’s name change

The ruling Grand National Party has decided to change its name next week. The party’s emergency leadership council announced on Thursday that the party would hold polls on potential names among party members from Friday to Sunday and adopt a new name on Monday.

The plan reflects the scandal-ridden party’s desperate attempt to project a new image before the April general election. In recent years, the party has suffered a series of unsavory scandals that tarnished its image irreparably.

Hence, a large number of the party’s lawmakers have called for the dissolution of the disgraced party to create a brand new one. Yet disbanding is a risky choice as it could divide the fractured conservative party.

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the head of the emergency council, was right to reject the call for dissolution. Yet the problem is that there is no guarantee that a name change would make the party look fresh to voters.

Even if the party adopts a new name, it will not paper over its wrongdoings, such as the DDoS attack on the website of the National Election Commission or the shameful money-for-votes scandal.

And the party will not be able to regain public support if it keeps people involved in these and other irregularities and those who have led the party in the wrong direction.

What is more important than changing the party’s name is its determination to depart from the past by changing its political DNA. It needs to change its members’ way of thinking and doing things to chart a new future.

If the party’s name change is not accompanied by such fundamental efforts, it will be seen as an expedient ploy to avoid a humiliating defeat in the April election.

As a matter of fact, Korea’s modern political history is littered with attempts to create and dissolve political parties before major elections. Since 1987, a total of 113 political parties have registered with the National Election Commission. These parties existed for 44 months on average, shorter than the four-year term of a lawmaker.

Compared with these parties, the GNP has existed for a much longer period ― more than 14 years. In fact, its duration of existence is the second longest among political parties that have ever existed in Korea.

To justify its decision to consign this honor to the dust bin of history, the party needs to double down on reform and present a fresh platform and new lineup. Otherwise, it will not be able to restore public confidence.