The Grand National Party, which will soon have a new name, released a new draft platform in a desperate move to keep public support. As was widely expected, the 10-point platform, which was dubbed “Promise with the People,” was focused on welfare in what was seen as a bold departure from traditional conservative values.
Park Geun-hye, who was given full mandate to manage the troubled party as head of the emergency committee, declared that the new platform marked a “fundamental change” of the party to identify itself completely with “the people.” What she meant was that the GNP was no longer a party for the rich.
So, the party made a very comprehensive promise: to create a welfare state that ensures all people can pursue happiness, to work for job stability as the foremost economic policy goal, to establish fair and transparent market order, to ensure equal opportunity for education, to create a social culture that respects diversity, and to promote eco-friendly, sustainable development.
The new platform also includes a future-oriented defense reform and a firm alliance with the United States, a flexible North Korea policy based on a national consensus, close communication with the people through social networking mechanisms and a strong government that holds itself responsible for public wellbeing under any circumstances. Each item has detailed plans to make the vision a reality.
The strongest emphasis is on Article One, which describes the Park Geun-hye version of a welfare state. It provides a welfare model for every stage of individual life from infanthood to old age, offering proper social security schemes to meet the changing needs of different generations. The platform also specifies the different categories of the underprivileged to help them lead dignified independent lives.
It clearly abandoned the Lee Myung-bak administration’s growth-oriented economic framework with minimum government intervention in market operations. Its pledge for “economic democracy” involves stern punishment for unfair trade practices and states that large and small businesses should seek common prosperity through fair competition. All economic players should share responsibilities for social integration and development.
Those who take a close look at the 10 articles may have their own judgment as to how much the party is now moving to the left. But few inside and outside the party would expect that the new platform, or promise to the people, will magically foment public sympathy with the GNP. Scanning the text of the draft platform, some party lawmakers deplored that Park Geun-hye was now squandering votes from both the right and left.
After rechristening the party and adopting a new platform, Park will then take a third step to reform the GNP. In a “nomination revolution” for the April National Assembly elections, she will attempt to sack a number of party heavyweights in partnership with a screening panel consisting of socially respected outsiders. She could pull off another surprise with an alarmingly nonpolitical list of proportional-representation candidates.
Park is now wielding power unprecedented in the 14-year history of the party. But her big mandate only shows how deep the sense of crisis is in the conservative party. No one really believes that the present catastrophe was brought about by an unrealistic platform or an inauspicious name, and many are convinced that Park is at least partly responsible for what the party is today with her unceasing rivalry with President Lee.
As we look back, the free school lunch controversy in Seoul City last summer, which was an extension of a partisan dispute over welfare, accelerated the process of unraveling the ruling party as it suffered setbacks in the referendum in August and the mayoral by-election in October. The left has won in a policy showdown; Park is now betting the future of the party with an offer to dramatic expand welfare.
Korean elections, however, have proved that platforms are not necessarily the ultimate winning factor. Park is entering the most challenging time of her political career this February, but she can still have hope if her committee chooses the right men and women to represent the party, defying internal resistance.
