Han Myeong-sook, elected Sunday as chief of the Democratic United Party, has taken the helm of the liberal opposition as it embarks on a mission to retake power from the conservatives.
Han and five Supreme Council members, elected during the party’s primary in the evening, will guide the party into two elections this year ― one in April to pick members of the parliament and another to elect a successor to President Lee Myung-bak on Dec. 19.
The results of the DUP leadership vote Sunday also pointed to the return to frontline politics of some key loyalists to the former President Roh Moo-hyun, who committed suicide in 2009 amid a corruption investigation.
Han, who was made the country’s first, and so far the only, female prime minister by Roh, came out on top of the nine contestants, followed by actor-turned-politician Moon Sung-keun. Both Han and Moon are considered to be Roh loyalists.
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(Yonhap News) |
Reps. Park Young-sun, Park Jie-won, Lee In-young and Kim Boo-kyum ranked third through sixth, securing a seat apiece in the top-decision making Supreme Council.
“Han seems to have appealed to the party’s delegates and ordinary citizens (who participated in the leadership vote) as a leader who can embrace different political groups under the DUP, which was created by a merger of three groups,” said Yu Chang-seon, a political commentator.
By picking Han, the DUP has effectively drawn clear battle lines with its conservative rival Grand National Party, which is chaired by another prominent female politician Park Geun-hye.
Park, considered the strongest presidential candidate from the conservative side, is the eldest daughter of Park Chung-hee, who came to power through a military coup and ruled the country for 18 years.
“In the years I fought against dictatorship and for that reason was tortured and imprisoned, GNP chief Park Geun-hye lived in Cheong Wa Dae. Who could draw a clearer battle line with Park than me,” Han said in her last-minute speech before the vote during the primary.
Han was jailed for two years for her pro-democracy fight under the Park regime.
Over the past years under the current conservative Lee administration, she fought accusations of bribery in a case which her supporters claim was a political vendetta. Two lower courts had cleared her of the charges, and the case is now heading to the Supreme Court.
“The first task for the new DUP leaders is, without a doubt, the general election just three months away,” said Noh Dong-il, professor of Kyunghee University in Seoul.
“The mood is favorable for liberals. But I think there is a key precondition for them to be able to turn the favorable mood into an election victory. That is internal reform.”
Several polls found deep voter disillusionment with Lee and his ruling GNP, which the liberal opposition hopes to capitalize on in the upcoming elections.
The GNP has been making strides in its efforts to remake the party, while liberals were preoccupied with the creation of the DUP through a merger of three progressive groups and the leadership contest.
Park Geun-hye, the GNP’s strongest presidential candidate, is leading the ruling bloc as interim chief and is pushing for a drastic reform of the way it nominates parliamentary election candidates in order to garner more votes from the younger generations.
The DUP leadership is expected to accelerate preparations for the elections as well, taking similar steps with the GNP to get more votes from the public.
“The opposition group will have to show its sincerity to end old-time politics and change. Otherwise, voters will view them as being complacent,” Noh said.
Turning to the presidential battle later in the year, the DUP leaders will be tasked with uniting the opposition field under a single presidential candidate to stop Park from winning the presidency.
At present, no liberal politician has come even close to the popularity of the GNP chairwoman. Ahn Cheol-soo, a software mogul-turned professor rumored to be harboring presidential ambitions, is the only one who has ever beaten Park in polls of presidential hopefuls over the past four years.
Ahn, although he has no political affiliation, is widely seen as leaning left.
By Lee Sun-young (
milaya@heraldcorp.com)
