Ruling party or special interest group?

Internal division in the ruling Grand National Party is intensifying over the nomination of the party candidate for by-elections in the Bundang district of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Party leaders are waging a war of nerves over former party leader Kang Jae-sup, who is mentioned as a candidate. Hong Joon-pyo, a member of the party’s supreme council, objected to Kang’s candidacy by saying, “If he wants to contribute to the party by running for election, he must run in areas the party has little influence.” Those who support Kang apparently want to repay him for debts they owed him in the past. On the surface, those who oppose his candidacy reject him as an “old” politician but also fear an influential figure entering the party, according to experts.

On the revision to a social security law proposed by former ruling party leader Park Geun-hye Friday, 43 supporters of President Lee Myung-bak and 19 neutral lawmakers agreed in addition to 52 pro-Park lawmakers. Given that the ruling party’s pro-Park and pro-Lee factions are at loggerheads over a constitutional amendment, this is an unprecedented agreement and apparently stems from the power of Park. The former party chief is leading the race for next year’s presidential election. Obviously targeting Park, Special Affairs Minister Lee Jae-oh said, “Acting as if she almost became president makes the people feel tired.” In this situation, ruling party lawmakers are agonizing over who they should follow.

On the selection of a site to build a science-business belt, dispute is rising between those hailing from the Chungcheong provinces, the proposed site of the belt, and those from other regions and between the pro-Park and pro-Lee factions. Taking a closer look at the dispute, however, shows the influence of political and regional interests. The same holds true for the construction of a new airport in the Gyeongsang provinces. Ruling party lawmakers are even divided within the Gyeongsang provinces. Lawmakers from Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province who support Hanam Country in Miryang as the site for the new airport are fighting lawmakers in Busan, who support Gadeok Island near the country’s largest port city as the site. The ruling party is a house divided on various issues.

In the Korean comedy movie “Mission Possible: Kidnapping Granny K,” the protagonist distributes to her children a fortune she made by running a meat soup restaurant as a single mother. Seeing her children seek their own interests despite their mother’s kidnapping, however, the woman joins hands with her kidnappers in demanding a ransom of 50 billion won (44.4 million U.S. dollars) in a ploy to make her children get their act together. If the ruling party continues to do what it has done, the people will get back at the party as the woman did at her children.

Editorial Writer Lee Jin-nyong (jinnyong@donga.com)