Internal Turmoil Cuts Time for Screening of Ruling Faction Candidates

Uri Party spokesmen Seo Hye-seok and Yun Ho-jung set up three large whiteboards in the briefing room of the National Assembly yesterday. Then he conducted a briefing for the press along with one other spokesperson from the party. It was a very unusual move. This “technique” is used only for announcing major national policies.

On the board was the title: “Sloppy Hearings and Sloppy Confessions.” Under the title, cartoons were hung on the board. One cartoon featured former Grand National Party Chair Park Geun-hye kneeling in front of former President Jeon Du-hwan. Another picture depicted former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak wearing the royal robe of a king.

Watching this debacle, some party members smiled bitterly, saying, “This is not it. It’s not the ruling party of a nation. It’s a group of editorial cartoon writers.” Unlike the Grand National Party, which has already started its primary procedure, the Uri Party has been suffering from internal feuds and power struggles. It does not seem to have the luxury of creating a new party.

Former Uri members tried to meet with other political factions, such as the pro-unification faction of the United Democratic Party, Good Korea, and former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-gyu yesterday. Good Korea declined the invitation, showing its dissatisfaction over the dominance of Uri members in forming a new party.

The United Democratic Party is also bleeding from internal power struggles. S. Jeolla Governor Park Jun-yeong and other pro-unification members of the party, who have suggested that they would defect from it to form a new political alliance, officially delayed their move, saying, “We will persuade Mr. Park [Sang-cheon]. We will not give up.”

Democratic leader Park Sang-cheon repeated his intent to abide by the principle of “righteous integration.” He has refused to compromise his principles for formation of a new party. The new party, which will be launched in early next month, is likely to become another faction of the Uri Party with only three to four members from the Democratic Party.

Doubts also hang over whether it will be possible to verify candidates from the ruling factions. There is little time left for a thorough screening.

The primary of the former and incumbent ruling factions will continue for a month, starting on September 15. The timetable is too tight to verify six to seven candidates who do not even have their policies formed. People doubt whether the ruling groups can follow the minimum guidelines proposed by the Grand National Party.

Due to these reasons, some voices within the groups argue for a need of a unified candidate. In other words, if the United Democratic Party and the fledging “third area” new party can agree to endorse a unified candidate, they believe the candidate can turn around the picture of the presidential race.

Another United Democratic leader, Kim Han-gil, recently told the press, “President Roh still fondles his winning tactics. He won the election by successfully unifying with other candidates. The Uri Party members and defecting members of the party seem to be clinging to this vague hope. They no longer seem to understand their reality: that they cannot win the race as their policies stand today.”

cij1999@donga.com