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Feb. 3. Behind them is newly elected floor leader Yoo Seong-min. (by Lee Jeong-woo

The ruling Saenuri Party’s newly elected floor leader marked his first official day on the job on Feb. 3 with harsh criticisms of the Blue House, demanding an “equal partnership” between the party and the presidential office.

Lawmaker Yoo Seong-min was elected to the position on a platform of putting the party front and center in governance.

Meanwhile, party leader Kim Moo-sung emerged from his low profile to echo Yoo’s message in a representative’s speech, part of parliamentary negotiation the same day. A power battle between the Blue House and Saenuri Party (NFP) over leadership in governance affairs, with a focus on sensitive issues like policy initiatives, appointments, and amending the Constitution, could be on the way.

In their Feb. 3 remarks, both Kim and Yoo described the current governing situation as being in a “comprehensive state of crisis.”

“As public approval drops for the governance performance of the administration and the President, they’re facing the threat of losing moment for their administration of state affairs,” Kim said in his speech.

“As the ruling party, the Saenuri Party cannot take its responsibility in this crisis of national leadership lightly,” he added.

Speaking in a radio interview on KBS the same day, Yoo said, “The administration and the Blue House have been aware of public sentiments up until now, but the party is also to blame for not making its voice heard when it was needed.”

“The current crisis was the result of mistakes by the party, the Blue House, and the administration,” he concluded.

Both Kim and Yoo were original members of the party’s pro-Park wing who ended up pushed out to the fringes, only to return now as its “new mainstream.”

Both also stressed “recapturing the party reins” as a way toward overcoming the crisis.

“Over the past two years, we’ve had just two senior tripartite [party-administration-Blue House] meetings,” Kim said. “The party is going to be taking the initiative going ahead by holding regular senior-level tripartite meetings so we can address governance issues efficiently and promptly.”

The message echoed Yoo’s pledge to “put the party front and center in governance” during his campaign for the floor leadership.

Yoo also demanded personnel changes at the Blue House as evidence of transformation.

“The public doesn‘t see it as a ‘reshuffling’ when you’re only doing it with a couple of secretaries and secretary’s office chiefs,” he said.

“Right now, there are very clear demands from the public in terms of the President’s appointments and the need for personnel changes,” he added.

Yoo went even farther with his remarks than Kim did with his roundabout criticisms last month after the Blue House secretariat came under fire over a document alleging interference by Chung Yoon-hoi, Park’s Chief of Staff when she was a second-term lawmaker.

“These days the President is trying to kill of the people below her who did a bad job serving because they’ve become a nuisance now,” Kim said at the time.

Yoo was also blunt about the issue of amending the Constitution, which Park has called an “economic black hole.”

“This is a really important issue, and everyone [in parliament] needs to be able to discuss it freely,” he said.

With two former fringe figures now at the party helm, tensions appear likely to grow between the Saenuri Party and Blue House as Kim and Yoo demand more control over governance. Already, many of the non-Park wing lawmakers who make up their main support base are demanding that the party distance itself from the Blue House to increase its chances in this year’s general election. Lawmaker Cho Hae-jin told the Buddhist Broadcasting System radio network that the party leadership “shouldn’t think its job is done because it spoke some hard truths.” Another lawmaker, Park Min-shik, said on the KBS radio network that the party “needs a complete overhaul in the way it keeps having to account for the Blue House‘s policy decisions.”

Whether the party is willing to keep pressing the issue and risk a direct clash with the Blue House remains a different question.

“Yoo Seong-min is from the Daegu/North Gyeongsang region, and Kim Moo-sung is from the Busan/South Gyeongsang area,” said one lawmaker on condition of anonymity. “If they’re seen fighting head-on with President Park, they could lose their support base.”

“I suspect even they are going to be working to keep the tensions under control,” the lawmaker added.

By Seo Bo-mi, staff reporter

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