Uri Party Divided Over Appointments

On January 6, the ruling Uri Party named Yoo Jay-kun as acting leader of the party, but it is expected that the move will not fill the party’s leadership vacuum.

President Roh Moo-hyun and the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae also nominated Rhyu Si-min to the post of health minister a few days ago. The president once again did not look like he cared about the opinion of the party, but Uri Party members made only sporadic complaints against the nomination.

Leadership Vacuum-

At the joint meeting of an Uri Party emergency executive committee and a city, province, and party committee, the participants unanimously recommended Yoo as acting chairman for a month or more until the party caucus on February 18. But a closer look reveals that the eventful nomination went through three elections to choose one out of four candidates.

Some representatives questioned Yoo’s credentials to be party leader. He was leading the Group of Lawmakers for Stable Reform, a committee comprised of center-right members. They opposed his nomination, saying, “The party leader is the face of the party, so we need to take cautious steps.”

When the party voted on Han Myeong-sook as an alternative of Yoo, a group of ‘pro-former Minister of Reunification Chung Dong-young’ lawmakers were known to exercise a veto at the last moment, which was because Han is close to pro-Kim Geun-tae, an archrival of Chung for a presidential candidate.

A first-term representative of Seoul said “Through the nomination process, it was embarrassing to notice the lack of talents in the party.”

The two representatives with a presidential candidate in mind held competing press conferences regarding their intentions to come back to the party. Kim held a press conference in the National Assembly building in early morning on January 2, saying, “If the one who leads (in the ratings) becomes the party leader, he will fail to draw attention from the public.” His remark was aiming at Chung, who is narrowly ahead of him, according to a recent survey.

Stung by the conference, Chung, who planned to stay at a temple and announce his return to the party next week, hurried to the party building on January 6, delivering a speech on his determination to create a “capable party and capable ruling party.”

Most representatives of the ruling party showed determined opposition against the appointment of Rhyu as the new health minister, saying, “We will risk breaking with the party if the president pushes for the bid.” Yet, 18 lawmakers, mostly second-term representatives, just expressed their opposition.

Chung and Kim, the most likely candidates, just expressed their basic positions, saying, “The presidential right to name an official should be respected.” They failed to come up with any solution to ease the tensions between the ruling party and the presidential office.

The ruling party blamed the presidential office for the debacle of the October 26 by-elections, and it criticized the president publicly for his suggestion of a grand coalition with the opposition Grand National Party. Yet, the party was weak-kneed when it met the president face to face.

This is in stark opposition with the incident that Chung and Minister of Justice Chun Jung-bae publicly criticized and forced supreme representative Kwon Ro-gap of the Democratic Party under the Kim Dae-jung administration to resign.

Some pointed out that the reason why the current government that promoted democratic and horizontal relations between the ruling party and presidential office is in a languid state is because they relied too much on the political star card, Roh Moo-hyun, from the beginning.

Professor Sim Ji-yeon of the political science and journalism departments at Kyungnam University mentioned that “President Roh’s political style that he makes no concession and thinks he can continue political activities by mobilizing the public, not the party, creates an environment where the party cannot strongly express its opinions.”

In-Jik Cho taewon_ha@donga.com cij1999@donga.com