Opposition party member urges pro-Roh figures to quit

A leading member of the main opposition Democratic United Party on Wednesday took a direct shot at the party’s mainstream faction comprising confidants of the late former president Roh Moo-hyun.

Han Sang-jin, chairman of the party`s review committee for last year`s presidential election, urged the Roh supporters to resign from their party posts to take responsibility for the party`s election loss, saying “the justice of overcoming the past will be realized” when those responsible for the defeat step down en masse.

Han made the comments in an opening speech to a forum on the party’s election defeat and future. He said the mainstream faction’s “narcissism, self-conceit and mutual distrust have reached a critical point.”

His speech is expected to have significant ripple effects within the party as an interim report on the committee’s review of the presidential election.

Han blamed the election defeat on the party`s “arrogance, shortsightedness and moral hazard of putting the party’s interest before winning the election.”

The operating strategy of the election camp of party candidate Moon Jae-in, which preferred to gain fresh energy from outside the party, “gave a serious sense of alienation and loss to the party despite its splendid rhetoric and appearance,”he added.

On the party`s factional feud over the rules of its May 4 national convention, Han said the "fierce but boring and attritional factional feud continues,” warning that the “chronic disease” will likely occur at the convention. He added that the committee’s final report cover the mistakes made by the party`s mainstream faction, the harm done by Moon’s camp to the party, and how non-mainstream factions hindered the party’s advance.

irun@donga.com