HC and YS Group Collectively Fails in Public Nomination

Troubles are spreading over a public nomination in the Grand National Party (GNP) as aides of the former president Kim Young-sam as well as of Lee Hoi-chang, who failed to be nominated, resisted simultaneously.

In particular, leading lawmakers showed a collective resistance, as some of the younger lawmakers are requesting the exclusion of Chung Hyung-keun and Kim Yong-kap for nomination with the reason of their “political color” and “past record” on February 26.

An aide to the former leader Lee Hoi –chang, Rep. Lah Oh-yeon of Yangsan City in Gyeongsangnam-do who failed the nomination recently, and Kim Ki-bae of Guro Kap area in Seoul who has been elected four times, suggested the possibility of independent running for the election, saying, “I will risk breaking with the party.”

It seems that it was fixed so that Rep. Ha Soon-bong of Jinju in Gyeongsangnam-do, who was excluded from a closed interview on February 25, would be left out of the public nomination. Although Rep. Kim Young-iel declared not to run prior to that, he is actually excluded from nomination, and Rep. Suh Cheong-won is also known to have already decided not to run for it as well.

A movement to exclude YS group was visualized in the party’s action to exclude Park Chong-ung because he played as a ‘mouthpiece’ of Kim Young-sam. So he decided to run for it independently. There is an analysis that Kim Hyun-cheol’s declaration of independently running for the election, whose base is Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do, is a response to sensing that the GNP is trying to create an atmosphere of “removing YS political color.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Nam Kyung-pil and Rep. Won Hee-ryong were known to have asked Kim Moon-su, the chairman of the screening committee for the public nomination, to exclude Rep. Chung Hyung-keun and Rep. Kim Yong-kap. As for this, the two responded, “That’s nonsense and we’ll find a special countermeasure.”

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com