Uri Party: Fractions Emerge Ahead of Floor Leader Election

Ahead of the election of the floor leader in the Uri Party, three factions are emerging.

On May 6, a group of President Roh Moo-hyun’s loyalists led by representative-elect Yom Dong-yeon and a group of former Reform Party members and other liberal elements led by Rep. Yoo Si-min had separate meetings, triggering a series of shows of force by each groups.

Roh Loyalist Non-Reform Party Group—

Representative-elect Yom, the leader of the group, led a luncheon meeting of 50 Roh loyalist Uri Party lawmakers, a majority of whom are former bureaucrats and presidential aides.

The meeting allegedly was organized on the belief that the party needs the center for its unity in the face of an intensifying conflict among fractions over its political identity.

The meeting was attended by representative-elects, Yom Dong-yeon, Kim Jin-pyo, Chund Deok-gu, Woo Je-hyang, Byon Jae-il, Kang Seong-jong, Kim Young-ju, Chun Byong-hyon, Lee Hwa-young, and Kim Hyun-mi. They named two representative-elects, Kang Chang-il and Kim Nak-soon, to be executives of their group. They agreed to hold regular meetings after the election of the floor leader.

“We need to show the unity of the party so that President Roh can normally perform government business,” they said. “We should play our role as a formidable force in the National Assembly.”

“Many of them raised concerns about the conflict over the party’s ideology and identity,” a person attended the meeting said.

Participatory Politics Group Formed—

Eleven representative-elects including Yoo Si-min, Park Myong-kwang, Kim Tae-nyon, Ahn Min-seok, Kang Ki-cheong, Jang Kyung-soo, Kim Jae-yoon, Chung Cheong-rae, Kim Hyung-joo, Chang Hyang-sook, Yu Ki-hong had a meeting at a restaurant at the National Assembly compound and launched a tentative group, Lawmakers for Participatory Politics. Park Myong-kwang was tapped to head the preparatory committee.

“The group is aimed at facilitating the flow of information and research between lawmakers with liberal leanings. About 20 representatives said they would join,” said Yu.

“We won’t field a candidate in the floor leader election,” said Yu. “Although we agreed to support a candidate who meet four criteria, policy coordination skills, reformist and liberal policy lines, unity-oriented leadership and excellent negotiation skills, whom they actually vote for will be each member’s decision.”

Asked whether or not it is a clique, he answered, “We are a political fraction in that we have the same value orientation. However, we are not a clique because we don’t have any other connections.”

Hoon Lee Seung-Heon Lee dreamland@donga.com ddr@donga.com