“Lee Hoi-chang Will Announce His Decision Next Week”

Former chairman of the Grand National Party Lee Hoi-chang, whose possibility of running for the presidency is said to be growing, will announce his decision on whether to run for presidency or not as early as the beginning of next week.

Lee Heung-ju, special assistant to former chairman Lee, spoke with Dong-A Ilbo on telephone on November 1 and said, “The great interest people showed and the political schedules will make it hard for former chairman Lee to ponder over the matter infinitely. It is possible former chairman Lee will make his decision and announce it to the people sometime next week.”

He added, “It is not true that [former chairman Lee] is running as a ‘spare’ candidate in case candidate Lee Myung-bak falls out. The approval rating revealed by a recent poll is also irrelevant to former chairman Lee’s decision. The announcement will be made in the form of a national statement.”

A Grand National Party official who is close to former chairman Lee also said, “As far as I know, former chairman Lee will declare that he will quit the party and run for the presidency as an independent candidate on around November 6-7. Task forces have already begun moving so as to reconstruct past organizations.”

Another party-related official said, “I’ve heard that former chairman Lee summoned even his close acquaintances who were staying abroad.”

Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak, when asked by a journalist what he would do if former chairman Lee runs for the presidency, showed a deferring attitude, saying, “It is not the right time to answer that question yet. We’ll wait and see.”

But chief secretary Lee Bang-ho, the head officer of candidate Lee’s election committee, held a press conference at the party complex in Yeouido on the same day and said, “If [former chairman Lee] intends to run for president, he will first have to disclose records on the use of money from the funds he raised during the 2002 presidential election.”

“A considerable amount taken out of the presidential election fund was returned to the party after the election. [Former chairman Lee] has to provide full disclosure of the transactions together with information on how he used the money in order to eliminate the nation’s suspicions. We urge former GNP chairman Choi Byeong-ryeol, who has said that he is keeping the note with the record on the use of the balance money, to elucidate the truth by revealing the information immediately,” secretary Lee added.

Meanwhile, former GNP leader Park Geun-hye met with the journalists before the National Assembly audit by the Environment and Labor Committee on the Ministry of Environment on the same day and criticized GNP supreme council member Lee Jae-oh for his recent comment that he ‘would not accept factions who do not acknowledge candidate Lee Myung-bak as the party’s presidential nominee,’ saying, “It is an exceedingly extreme case of arrogance.”

taylor55@donga.com