Veteran lawmaker warns against ‘anti-Moon alliance’

A veteran lawmaker criticized opposition members who are moving to form an alliance against President Moon Jae-in, saying it was “not right” to prevent a head of state from doing his duty.

In a radio interview Tuesday morning, Rep. Park Jie-won, a former culture minister and four-term lawmaker from the minor opposition Party for Democracy and Peace, warned of the many crises facing the country.

Noting that that the country faces a crisis on five fronts -- denuclearization, economy and labor, attempts to root out corruption and the judiciary, Park said,“It is the president’s role to communicate with the National Assembly and the people to resolve these issues. And it is not reasonable to form an ‘anti-Moon’ alliance against the president who faces these duties.”

As the Liberty Korea Party continues to be plagued by a factional struggle between supporters and opponents of former President Park Geun-hye, a number of its members have suggested forming an anti-Moon alliance as a way of reducing internal conflicts.

On Moon’s plummeting approval rating, Park mentioned that it was especially low among individual business owners in their 20s and among residents of the Gyeongsang provinces, Busan, Daegu and Ulsan. But he also said the president did not “have to think about support ratings because he will not be seeking re-election.”

In the latest poll by Realmeter on Monday, President Moon’s approval rating recorded 53.7 percent, 1.7 percentage points down from the previous week. In the survey of 2,507 respondents, negative assessments of Moon’s management of state affairs rose 1.1 percentage points to 39.4 percent.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)