A senior member of the ruling Saenuri Party pledged his alliance to the party despite a feud over nominations and urged right-wing unity, while defectors from the main opposition Democratic United Party established a new party in reaction to recent nominations.
Rep. Kim Moo-sung, former floor leader of Saenuri, said Monday that he would stay in the party, regardless of the nomination results for the April general elections.
It was speculated earlier that the fourth-term Busan lawmaker would declare his defection from the party, as he was effectively denied the party’s candidacy when his longtime constituency was classified a strategic nomination area.
“My task is to serve the party with a humble heart,” said the senior lawmaker.
“An extra parliamentary term would be meaningless if I had to leave my party and colleagues for that cause.”
Rep. Kim Moo-sung of the ruling Saenuri Party speaks at a news conference in the National Assembly on Monday, where he pledged to abide by the party’s nomination results. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)
Kim thus became the first member to explicitly deny defection rumors and confirm allegiance to the party.
Eyes were drawn to whether the decision of the influential lawmaker would deter other disappointed members from leaving the party.
Among pro-Lee Myung-bak figures who failed to make the party’s nominee list, five have so far broken away, including Reps. Chun Yu-ok and Choi Byung-gook.
Kim, though he confirmed his stay, also censured the party leadership.
“I understand that the top priority is for the right-wing camp to win in the December presidential election and for this, I am ready to make sacrifices,” he said.
“However, I feel deeply sorry that many devoted members had to be cast out in the process.”
The lawmaker also hinted at discord with the current Park Geun-hye leadership.
“I have rarely spoken to Rep. Park over the past years,” said the former floor leader, who was in the past considered a leading member of the in-party pro-Park group.
He, however, refrained from defining the controversial nominations as political retaliation by the pro-Park faction against pro-Lee members.
Meanwhile, a group of defectors from the DUP started a new political party Monday, in protest of the main opposition party’s nomination process.
Former Rep. Han Kwang-ok, a loyalist to the late liberal President Kim Dae-jung and former leader of the Millennium Democratic Party, one of the precursors to the DUP, is to head the new group, tentatively named “the Orthodox Democratic Party.”
“The DUP’s nomination process is flawed, giving undue favor to pro-President Roh Moo-hyun figures who should have been held responsible for the faults they made during the Roh administration,” he said during the launching ceremony in Yeouido, Seoul.
Han left the DUP after he failed to win the party’s nomination for Seoul’s Gwanak A constituency. His desertion came amid a growing fissure within the DUP between its leadership, controlled by pro-Roh figures such as chairwoman Han Myeong-sook, and old guard members known as the old Democratic Party faction.
A score of former DUP members joined Han’s party, including former Reps. Kim Duk-kyu, Lee Hoon-pyung and Jo Jae-hwan. Chang Ki-pyo, who leads Green Unification Party, an obscure party with no parliamentary seats, also joined, merging his party with Han’s.
Han said he aims to field 200 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election.
By Lee Sun-young and Bae Hyun-jung (milaya@heraldm.com)(tellme@heraldm.com)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
