Parties move from FTA to election warm-up

The National Assembly is still dealing with the aftermath of last week’s Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement passage, but parties have begun diverting their attention to the general election coming up in April.

The ruling Grand National Party added momentum to its internal reforms, both in policies and human resources. The main opposition Democratic Party, on the other hand, faces feuds over the left-wing consolidation project and the new leader selection processes.

In an unprecedented move, the conservative party took a step towards introducing a special tax for the high-income bracket.

“We should ponder whether the same tax rate should be applied to those who earn 88 million won ($75,536) and those who earn more than 10 billion won per year,” said Rep. Hong Joon-pyo in the party’s Supreme Council meeting last week.

Also, former chairwoman Rep. Park Geun-hye and reform-inclined members requested the decision-making body raise next year’s welfare budget by up to 2 trillion won, officials said Saturday.

Upon such calls, the council is to hold a ruling party-government meeting on Tuesday, after the party’s reform forum, to negotiate the possibility of budget changes.

In Tuesday’s forum, the GNP is also expected to hold a heated discussion on in-party nominations for next year’s general election.

Reform supporters such as Supreme Council members Yoo Seong-min, Won Hee-ryong and Nam Kyung-pil said Sunday that the council should give up its nomination authority to prevent factional disputes.

Observers argued that the party leader, Hong, needs to make such gestures of tolerance and sacrifice to make up for the Seoul mayoral by-election defeat last month.

The party nevertheless is still to reach a consensus on the detailed methods.

Won suggested an open process, in which the party’s candidates are evaluated by a panel.

The DP, while continuing to stage its protest of the FTA ratification, led its talks on the liberal camp’s consolidation project but failed to reach a consensus.

Party chairman Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu is still pushing for a joint national convention in which all participating parties would be merged and its new leader would be selected on the same day.

Former floor leader and chairman aspirant Rep. Park Jie-won and others, however, insist that the party should first select its new leader and council and then move on to left-wing unity.

Under the circumstances, speculation rose that the left-wing camp may fail to hold its joint national convention on Dec. 17 as originally scheduled.

“A compromise plan has been suggested, calling for organizing a temporary council which will lead the liberal unity in December, and delaying the chairman election to January,” said the party’s spokesperson.

Sohn has spent the weekend meeting with chairman potentials and other influential figures of the party to speak on the issue, he also said.

However, conflicts may peak this week as the minority group pledged to summon the DP’s exclusive national convention on Monday, based on the right stated in the party’s constitution.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)