hankyoreh

former chairman of the Grand National Party

By Song Chae Kyung-hwa, staff writer

An increasingly active crop of potential New Frontier Party (NFP) presidential contenders have taken aim at the party’s leading candidate, Park Geun-hye, during the past few days.

Gyeonggi province Gov. Kim Moon-soo went right at Park during a lunch meeting Sunday in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood. Kim described her position in the party as “like a martial law commander.

"I’m not sure that it’s really sensible for her to use her ‘emergency powers’ to drum people who don’t side with her wing [the NFP’s pro-Park contingent] out of nominations in an unprecedented way, and to try to maintain a party structure where it’s only her people" into the upcoming December presidential elections, Kim said.

He went on to criticize her succession to power after her father Park Chung-hee, noting a widespread rejection of hereditary transmission of wealth and power among the South Korean population.

"What people today want is unified leadership, and unity tends to be weakened when leadership is inherited," Kim said.

Another potential contender Chung Mong-joon, former chairman of the Grand National Party, the NFP’s predecessor, said during a press conference Sunday at NFP headquarters in Yeouido that the South Korean political community and administration "seem to be taking too casual an approach to security issues."

"We need to postpone the dismantling of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command“ for the sake of security, Chung said.

Chung also criticized Park during a press conference in Ulsan the day before, saying she "needs to tell the people of South Korea and the members of the party how much thought she has given to the principles of democracy, what her thoughts are on democracy within the party, and how she views the October Yushin," the self-coup by which her father assumed dictatorial control over the country.

During a visit to the National Assembly Members’ Garden with a group of university students Sunday, former Minister for Special Affairs Lee Jae-oh said, "There’s a good chance this next party convention will end up with a leadership where everyone cheers one person through [the race to choose an NFP presidential candidate] instead of managing the process in a rigorous and neutral way.

“If that happens, we’re likely to see some serious backlash in the presidential election,” Lee added.

Meanwhile, former Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soon held a press conference Sunday at the NFP office to announce his bid for the NFP candidacy.

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