Pres. nominee Park struggling to talk to 2 ruling party rivals

The presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party has failed to mend fences with party rivals Lee Jae-oh and Chung Mong-joon. Though Park Geun-hye has expressed a willingness to work with them, many observers say the three are unlikely to talk soon.

Park has yet to narrow distances with her two rivals since trying to arrange a meeting with them Wednesday. "We`ve asked Chung and Lee to set a date for a meeting,” an aide to Park said. “We`ve done everything we can.”Another senior aide to Park said, “Lee refused to take our phone calls so we had to contact one of his aides. This is too much.”

Lee’s aides say Park’s camp has shown no "sincerity,” adding the presidential candidate should have called Lee in person to ask for cooperation. Ruling party Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan, who is Park’s chief of staff, is said to have visited Lee at his office but failed to secure talks with him. Lee wants a constitutional amendment to adopt a two-term presidency, something Park agrees with but has not committed herself to.

Rep. Chung’s aides also say he has no reason not to speak to Park but one asked, “Why does he have to be the first to ask for a meeting (with Park)?" Another aide said the Wednesday meeting had to be canceled because of Park’s schedule, adding, “(Chung) is focusing on his parliamentary activities and will cooperate if he can do anything to help her as a former party chairman.”

sungho@donga.com