"Park Will Back Lee Starting Next Week"

Park Geun-hye, who lost to Lee Myung-bak in the GNP primary and is taking a rest in her residence in Samseong-dong, is likely to support her rival Lee starting next week.

In a telephone interview with Dong-A Ilbo yesterday, an aide to Park said, “Park will rest in her home until this weekend and then early next week she will meet or call those who helped her in the GNP primary. In the process she will once again acknowledge her defeat and will ask them to support Lee Myung-bak in order to return the party to power.”

The aide said, “Park is steadfast in her resolve to support Lee, but it is not her style to make active moves. So she will start her supporting job after talking with Lee and his election camp is in place.”

The GNP leadership plans to come up with a consultative channel that brings Lee and Park together before the GNP Presidential Election Taskforce (PET) is formed. Through this channel, Park is expected to support Lee in earnest from the start of the next month.

The GNP also plans to launch a Presidential Election Planning Team (PEPT) that will take care of election strategy, policy pledges, organizing and promotion before the launch of the PET.

Regarding whether or not Park will assume the position of the leader of PET, another aide of Park said, “It’s been only a few days after the primary. So it is too early to talk about that. She will consider that only after the party and Lee camp formally make a suggestion.”

He added, “Once Park assumes the supporting role, she will do her best.”

Regarding Park’s position, Lee’s closest aide, lawmaker Jeong Du-eon, said, “We are grateful for Park’s loyalty to the GNP. We will forge a cooperative coalition with Park’s supporters in the primary.”

In the meantime, major fringe organizations that supported Park plan to continue their work until the end of this year.

One of Park’s aides in charge of one such organization said in a telephone conversation with this newspaper, “We have decided to continue to help Park until the end of 2007 by raising some funds.”

However, some view this remark as an intention to prepare for possible “change of tides” in the process of the presidential election.

sunshade@donga.com