Presidential Candidate Lee Pledges to Reform GNP

Reportedly, the Grand National Party’s presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak reprimanded some of his aides for almost losing to former Chairwoman Park Geun-hye in the August 20 primary electoral college vote.

It was also said that the former Seoul mayor pledged to reform the party during the GNP senior members’ meeting yesterday.

At the meeting, Lee said, “We must start off fresh with a resolve to make the GNP a brand new party. In order to accommodate the aspirations of the public, we must review everything from the party`s color to its functional ability.”

Lee also emphatically said, “We should agonize over what the nation expects from the GNP and what motivates them to have such expectations, and show a sincere effort to meet those expectations.”

Prior to that, Lee paid homage to national patriots at the Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, Seoul, for his first official move after the nomination and said, “Now that I expressed my firm resolve to our ancestors, everything will be all right. The nation will be all right.” Meanwhile, right after the GNP convention on August 20, Lee criticized his aides, saying, “It was in fact our failure. I don’t know what lawmakers in my camp have done so far. I feel like I have done everything all alone,” one of his camp members said.

Calculating votes by himself, Lee complained that about 10,000 votes combining thousands of votes from nonmember electoral college and other votes from the public opinion poll were lost and pointed out the discrepancy between the actual results and what his aides had claimed.

With regard to this, an aide of Lee’s camp said Lee’s remarks were intended to reprimand the complacency of his confidants and implied that he is chosen not by the party itself but by the public. This is translated as his feeling that he is relatively free to reform the GNP, and that the results of electoral college vote provided him with another excuse to implement reforms.

taylor55@donga.com