The ruling Saenuri Party plans to hold a national committee Tuesday to launch two panels that will lead reform efforts in the party that have been necessitated by the devastating defeat in the April 16 parliamentary election.

The national committee is expected to endorse the launch of an “emergency” leadership body to be headed by floor leader Chung Jin-suk and a reform committee to be headed by Kim Yong-tae, a three-term lawmakers from western Seoul.

Party officials say the caretaker leadership headed by Chung will be tasked with the selection of a new legitimate leadership that will lead the party until the next presidential election in December next year. The reform committee will be responsible for devising measures to restore public confidence in the party.

All these moves -- the first concrete actions the party has taken since the election defeat one month ago, however, fall far short of the order voters gave the party through the general election: Do away with factional strife and make bold self-reforms.

Not only do the first actions come too late -- even the party’s elders criticized the party for doing virtually nothing for the past month -- but there is strong doubt that they will be able to fulfill what the public has asked of them.

First of all, the decision to operate two panels -- the transition leadership committee and the reform committee -- is ill-advised. As party officials said, the interim leadership’s mission will be preparing for the national caucus in late July or early August to elect a new leadership. This means the party will continue to have a power vacuum for two more months.   

The decision to separate the reform committee from the transitional party leadership and leaving it to be headed by a relatively little-known lawmaker also raises skepticism that whatever it proposes may stay as proposals.

This contrasts with the Minjoo Party of Korea, which brought in a charismatic outside figure to tide over an internal crisis that severely threatened its chances in the general election. The party gave Kim Chong-in full authority to change the party and run the election matters, which helped the party overcome the crisis and clinch election victory.      

The more fundamental problem with the Saenuri Party is that its members seem to have forgotten -- or try to not admit -- that the arbitrary nominations of candidates orchestrated by President Park Geun-hye and her followers exacerbated its internal power struggle and resulted in the disastrous defeat in the April election.

One good case in point is the election of Chung as the floor leader. It is no secret that the pro-Park faction supported Chung, who in turn filled many of the key party posts with members loyal to the president.

He is now openly protective of the mainstream faction, saying that the pro-Park group as a whole should not be held responsible for the election defeat. It is “laughable” to make such an argument, he said.   

What’s indeed laughable is that key members of the pro-Park faction, instead of offering apologies for plunging the party into crisis and taking a repentant attitude, has tried to tighten its domination of the party.

The names of all the potential candidates for the new leadership posts come from the pro-Park faction, including Suh Chung-won, Choi Kyung-hwan, Lee Jung-hyun and Lee Joo-young.

The political fall of people who were thought to rival the pro-Park faction leaders – like former party leader Kim Moo-sung and the election loss of former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon – make it more likely that the Saenuri will continue to be dominated by Park’s associates.

This bolsters the speculation that non-Parks will split from the party to create a new party or seek an alliance with the People’s Party led by Ahn Cheol-soo ahead of the presidential election. This possible scenario alone tells Saenuri what it should do.