South Korean Politics and Elections

Lee Seeks to Mend Fences With Park

Korea Times, January 23, 2008

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

Rep. Park Geun-hye of the Grand National Party (GNP) said Wednesday that she and President-elect Lee Myung-bak had reached an agreement regarding the party’s selection of candidates to run in the upcoming National Assembly elections.

Following a meeting at Lee’s office in Seoul, the former GNP chairwoman told reporters that the President-elect reassured he would help make the selection process fair.

There were few differences over the procedural matter between them, Park said.

The meeting was arranged for Park to report on her special envoy mission to China last week, during which she met Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders.

There had been growing tension between close aides of Lee and Park regarding the selection of committee members to choose party candidates to run in the National Assembly elections slated for April 9.

Lawmakers of the two sides have sought to make a compromise but failed to narrow the gap.

Rep. Kim Moo-sung, a close aide to the former party chairwoman, complained it was unfair that almost all screening committee members were the confidants of the President-elect.

Ahn Kang-min, former head of the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office, was appointed to head the screening committee.

Five posts are assigned for GNP members, one of whom is incumbent secretary-general, Lee Bang-ho.

Aides of Park have demanded the secretary-general resign from the selection committee, as he is associated with the President-elect.

``It is unprecedented for a party secretary-general to become a member of the screening committee. His taking the committee post would discredit the committee’s decision as he worked for President-elect Lee during the GNP primaries last August,’’ Kim said.

The secretary-general has been under attack by followers of Park after he was reported to have said that about 40 percent of incumbent lawmakers from the Gyeongsang Provinces will be removed from the party’s selection process.

The provinces are the stronghold of Park, and her aides considered his remarks as a political attack.

Rep. Yoo Jeong-bok, a confidant of Park, said in an interview Monday that he would not rule out the possibility of the former party chairwoman and her followers bolting from the party if negotiations did not go well.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

GNP Hearing Takes Heat Over Suspicions

Korea Times, July 19, 2007

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

The hearing of the Grand National Party (GNP) Thursday was intense as the panels sought sharp and embarrassing questions over allegations surrounding presidential hopefuls Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.

The unprecedented in-house scrutiny took place amid skepticism running high over the effectiveness of the internal screening.

Fifteen panels focused their questions on the contenders' property trading, tax records and their relationship with people involved in the allegations.

Some panels doggedly requested contenders give appropriate answers to their questions.

Early predictions said that the one-day scrutiny would end with wishy-washy conclusions by providing the contenders with an opportunity to defend their positions.

Skepticism came even from the internal screening body responsible for the hearing.

Ahn Kang-min, chief of the internal watchdog, told reporters that he was frustrated for several reasons.

``The in-house body has no teeth and was not empowered to have the contenders cooperate with our activities. Two contenders were not supportive and failed to fulfill their earlier commitments,'' said Ahn, a former senior prosecutor.

He said two contenders continued to conduct mutually destructive negative campaigns, which ultimately forced the prosecution to investigate the allegations.

As a consequence, the internal committee grew increasingly callous as the prosecution took hold of the investigation.

Amid pervasive skepticism, a political scientist presented a more optimistic view, saying that this kind of effort will pay off in the long run.

Prof. Hahm Sung-deuk of Korea University told The Korea Times that the internal scrutiny is a very good start for party politics. So far the country has no other system to screen candidates running for the presidency.

``Holding a hearing to screen presidential contenders will definitely help bring transparency to the political arena in the future,'' he said.

Hahm added that he shared little with critics who argue that an internal scrutiny is less likely to reach the uncomfortable truth regarding the contenders.

Those critics said panelists would be discouraged from asking questions that might put the contenders in trouble in the presidential race.

``In the U.S., the media screens candidates running for public office. As media in Korea does not play such a role, the party has to do it on its own,'' he said.

``Those who are aspiring to be a national leader will learn lessons from this event. They would figure out that a zero-tolerance policy is applied to those who run for the presidency so they are less likely to seek misdemeanors or wrongdoings even before running for public office,'' the political scientist added.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr