hankyoreh

Yeouido neighborhood

By Kim Jong-cheol, Political Correspondent

President Lee Myung-bak appears more and likely to leave the ruling Grand National Party, in a repeat of a phenomenon that has become something of a tradition in South Korean politics ever since Roh Tae-woo left his party in 1992 at the request of Democratic Liberal Party presidential candidate Kim Young-sam.

Regardless of the Cheong Wa Dae‘s wishes, pressure to drive out the unpopular president is growing within the party, which has to battle for seats in elections.

The first to bring the topic up Monday was Kwon Young-jin, a lawmaker in the GNP’s reform wing. Appearing on the Christian Broadcasting System‘s “Kim Hyeon-jeong News Show,” Kwon said, “It seems like it would also be the best thing for the Republic of Korea and its citizens for the President to actually administer the election and finish up his governance affairs from a neutral position next year, rather than as a member of any particular political group.”

Kwon called the defection of Lee at the time of a party reinauguration an “inevitable decision.”

“A new transformation for the Grand National Party has to involve a cleansing of all the old guilt, the equivalent of an entirely new party,” Kwon explained.

Kwon’s suggestion is that the issue of Lee‘s party membership be resolved naturally in the process of reinaugurating the GNP.

Yoo Seong-min, a member of the GNP’s Park Geun-hye camp, also called for efforts to set the party apart from Lee at a supreme council meeting early this month, saying, “The time has come for the party to draw a clear line with regard to President Lee.”

With such calls certain to increase as the general and presidential elections draw nearer, most observers are saying it is only a matter of time before Lee and the GNP part ways.

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