Parties in flux
The nation’s political parties are in a state of flux. Party leaderships are in serious disarray and analysts see the possibility of a major regrouping when parliamentary and presidential votes draw near. Popularity ratings fluctuate wildly while President Lee Myung-bak’s approval rate keeps sliding.
The ruling Grand National Party’s by-election loss last month in Bundang, long considered a conservative bastion, led to the early departure of the party chairman and the surprise election of an underdog as the new floor leader. The president’s party now faces the worst factional strife since it clinched power in the December 2007 vote. At least four rival groups are jockeying for party control while the president keeps his distance from each of them.
The main opposition Democratic Party is still in an ecstatic mood after its chairman Sohn Hak-kyu clinched Bundang in the April 27 vote. The leftist party overtook the GNP in popularity for the first time in the latest opinion poll. Yet, Sohn exposed a disappointing lack of leadership over the handling of the Korea-EU free trade agreement bill. Rhyu Si-min of the National Participatory Party, an offshoot from the DP, is mounting an effective challenge to become the opposition torch-bearer.
Suddenly on Monday, Lee Hoi-chang resigned as chairman of the conservative Liberty Forward Party, saying that he would look at national politics beyond the confines of the Chungcheong Province-based party. People in and outside the party took his remarks as indicating a fourth bid for presidency. Now the two conservative parties are run by emergency committees.
About 40 young Turks in the GNP joined the Park Geun-hye faction to support Hwang Woo-yea in the election of the floor leader. They are now openly demanding that the emergency committee appointed by the outgoing executive body concede its functions to the new floor leader so that he can prepare the party general convention in the fairest manner. In the meantime, schism in the loyalists for the president deepened as Lee Jae-oh blamed Lee Sang-deuk for abandoning his choice and clandestinely endorsing Hwang.
All these complex developments testify to the immaturity of our political parties for democratic operation despite the passage of two decades following the end of military dictatorships. Yet, a more immediate cause, in the case of the ruling party, is the formidable personal antagonism between President Lee and Park, the top contender in the 2007 presidential nomination.
Park, commanding the highest popularity rate of over 30 percent in the latest poll, is no doubt the strongest candidate for the December 2012 presidential election. The present conflicts in the GNP boil down to a contest between the present and future powers, focused on the right to nominate candidates for the National Assembly elections next spring. The young reformists’ call for a totally bottom-up process to replace the traditional top-down nomination system has strong justification, although it is another cause of the internal trouble.
President Lee is fundamentally responsible for resolving these problems but his ammunition is running out. His has to seek a genuine reconciliation with Park Geun-hye and then stay a fair umpire and arbitrator on the worsening contest between the so-called pro-Lee and pro-Park groups. He may have little to fear about his future particularly with regard to family-related irregularities which had haunted his predecessors, but he should most anxiously try to avoid the misfortune of seeing the governing party break apart while in office.
The ruling Grand National Party’s by-election loss last month in Bundang, long considered a conservative bastion, led to the early departure of the party chairman and the surprise election of an underdog as the new floor leader. The president’s party now faces the worst factional strife since it clinched power in the December 2007 vote. At least four rival groups are jockeying for party control while the president keeps his distance from each of them.
The main opposition Democratic Party is still in an ecstatic mood after its chairman Sohn Hak-kyu clinched Bundang in the April 27 vote. The leftist party overtook the GNP in popularity for the first time in the latest opinion poll. Yet, Sohn exposed a disappointing lack of leadership over the handling of the Korea-EU free trade agreement bill. Rhyu Si-min of the National Participatory Party, an offshoot from the DP, is mounting an effective challenge to become the opposition torch-bearer.
Suddenly on Monday, Lee Hoi-chang resigned as chairman of the conservative Liberty Forward Party, saying that he would look at national politics beyond the confines of the Chungcheong Province-based party. People in and outside the party took his remarks as indicating a fourth bid for presidency. Now the two conservative parties are run by emergency committees.
About 40 young Turks in the GNP joined the Park Geun-hye faction to support Hwang Woo-yea in the election of the floor leader. They are now openly demanding that the emergency committee appointed by the outgoing executive body concede its functions to the new floor leader so that he can prepare the party general convention in the fairest manner. In the meantime, schism in the loyalists for the president deepened as Lee Jae-oh blamed Lee Sang-deuk for abandoning his choice and clandestinely endorsing Hwang.
All these complex developments testify to the immaturity of our political parties for democratic operation despite the passage of two decades following the end of military dictatorships. Yet, a more immediate cause, in the case of the ruling party, is the formidable personal antagonism between President Lee and Park, the top contender in the 2007 presidential nomination.
Park, commanding the highest popularity rate of over 30 percent in the latest poll, is no doubt the strongest candidate for the December 2012 presidential election. The present conflicts in the GNP boil down to a contest between the present and future powers, focused on the right to nominate candidates for the National Assembly elections next spring. The young reformists’ call for a totally bottom-up process to replace the traditional top-down nomination system has strong justification, although it is another cause of the internal trouble.
President Lee is fundamentally responsible for resolving these problems but his ammunition is running out. His has to seek a genuine reconciliation with Park Geun-hye and then stay a fair umpire and arbitrator on the worsening contest between the so-called pro-Lee and pro-Park groups. He may have little to fear about his future particularly with regard to family-related irregularities which had haunted his predecessors, but he should most anxiously try to avoid the misfortune of seeing the governing party break apart while in office.
Hollow proposal
While there is a near zero possibility that Kim Jong-il will accept President Lee’s offer of inviting the North Korean leader to the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul next March, which carries heavy preconditions, the gesture shows the government’s sincerity to bring the rogue regime to the international arena. President Lee also reminded Pyongyang of what it can expect from the international society in exchange for giving up its nuclear programs, which so far have earned it practically nothing.
The president promised “a bright future” for the North on two conditions. One is Pyongyang’s reaching an agreement with the international society “firmly and sincerely” to abandon its nuclear programs, and the other is that it apologize for its sinking of the South Korean patrol craft Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year, which were the worst military provocations since the Korean War.
The 2nd Nuclear Security Summit is to be held on March 26-27 with 50 heads of states or governments discussing how to deepen international cooperation that helps prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists. The summit will also seek to strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency with the resources and authorities it needs to meet its responsibilities.
South Korea was approved to host the next summit because the participants of the first summit in Washington in April 2010 recognized the gravity of the North Korean nuclear issue, which was certain to top the agenda of the Seoul summit. The event will be a great demonstration of international solidarity against nuclear proliferation, as it takes place in a country under direct threat from a regime that has conducted nuclear weapons tests twice.
However, with the certain absence of North Korea and Iran, attendees of the summit will share a fair amount of frustration, which we only hope to turn into renewed resolve toward common efforts for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and across the world.
The president promised “a bright future” for the North on two conditions. One is Pyongyang’s reaching an agreement with the international society “firmly and sincerely” to abandon its nuclear programs, and the other is that it apologize for its sinking of the South Korean patrol craft Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year, which were the worst military provocations since the Korean War.
The 2nd Nuclear Security Summit is to be held on March 26-27 with 50 heads of states or governments discussing how to deepen international cooperation that helps prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists. The summit will also seek to strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency with the resources and authorities it needs to meet its responsibilities.
South Korea was approved to host the next summit because the participants of the first summit in Washington in April 2010 recognized the gravity of the North Korean nuclear issue, which was certain to top the agenda of the Seoul summit. The event will be a great demonstration of international solidarity against nuclear proliferation, as it takes place in a country under direct threat from a regime that has conducted nuclear weapons tests twice.
However, with the certain absence of North Korea and Iran, attendees of the summit will share a fair amount of frustration, which we only hope to turn into renewed resolve toward common efforts for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and across the world.
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