“If Things Keep Going Like This, There Will Be No Primaries”

Grand National Party (GNP) presidential aspirant Park Geun-hye refused party Chairman Kang Jae-sup`s compromise proposal on the party’s primary election yesterday, saying that, “If things keep going like this, there will be no primaries.” This comment that insinuates Park would give up running the race is a stimulus that intensifies the conflict among the party members

At a talk with party members held at Goyang Women Cultural Center, Gyeonggi Province, Park said that, “I don’t think a party that changes rules like this deserves credit as a public party,” adding, “This party has no principle and thus, I don’t want to run the primaries this way.”

If former GNP leader Park and former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak fail to reach an agreement on the primary rules, the outcome will be no primary or Park’s giving up running the race.

Park also stressed that, “We successfully managed to rebuild the party, and I don’t think it is right to reconsider the original rule of this party because of one individual’s interests,” adding, “This is a serious attack that shrinks the foundation of the party and demolishes the party’s origins.”

Regarding her position on the compromise proposal, Park sternly said, “I can’t accept the proposal and strongly reject it.”

Following the talk, Park met reporters who attended the Gyeonggi Cultural Forum’s founding ceremony which was held at Suwon yesterday, and said, “I think I should take action to prevent the party’s rule from collapsing and the party from being attacked, and thus, if Lee agrees to go along with the original plan, I would give him 1,000 votes in return.”

Responding to a question asking, “Does your remark, “There will be no primaries,” mean that you will not run in the primaries or that you are breaking with the party?” Park reacted sensitively, saying, “I have never said that.”

Regarding this, Chin Soo-hee, lawmaker of the GNP and supporter of Lee, claimed, “Park’s remark of offering ‘1,000 votes’ in return for a compromise is an imprudent comment that degenerates the important right to vote into mere stakes of gambling.”

Meanwhile, GNP Chairman Kang said, “A captain should keep a boat moving despite a strong wind against it, and it is not a duty of a captain to stop the boat because sailors fight each other.” Kang also said, “The compromise proposal was passed in the party’s supreme council this morning and will be examined in a permanent national council that is being held next Tuesday.”

However, Kim Hak-won, chairman of national council and permanent national council, expressed objections on this, saying, “Only when two runners present a compromise proposal or when they present a couple of proposals with promises that they will accept the council’s decision, we will consider the revision of the party’s constitution.”

taylor55@donga.com