Saenuri hit by internal dispute

The Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, left, passes Suh Nam-pyo, president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, where she took part in a meeting with scientists Monday. One of the photos hung on the wall behind Suh is of Park herself when she received an honorary degree from KAIST. / Yonhap

The ruling Saenuri Party was mired in a feud Monday as disgruntled members showed no signs of backing down on their call for a campaign shake-up even after a key post holder quit.

Rep. Park Geun-hye, presidential candidate of the ruling party, warned the rebels, urging them not to play a blame game.

But it remains uncertain whether the warning will help end the dispute.

The head of the ruling Saenuri Party’s political reform committee stepped up pressure on Rep. Park to scrap her plan to appoint a “corrupt” politician to a key post.

Ahn Dae-hee, a prosecutor-turned-campaign strategist, said he would step down if Park appoints Han Kwang-ok, a former presidential chief of staff to the late former President Kim Dae-jung, to chair the party’s unity committee.

“Who’s going to trust you if you set up a committee for political reform and then recruit a person who was previously involved in bribery scandals?” Ahn asked during a news conference held at the party’s headquarters.

“You may call for reforms. But your motives will be questioned if such a troubled person works for you.”

Ahn’s move is expected to push Park into a further dilemma while aggravating the in-house feud within the ruling party ahead of the presidential election.

Meanwhile, junior lawmakers showed signs of taking collective action against the leadership after key post holders refused to step down, despite mounting calls for them to do so to regain voter confidence.

Rep. Kim Sung-tae alleged that Park and the Saenuri Party leadership hadn’t figured out what was going on and how serious the situation was.

Kim called incumbent Saenuri Party leaders “unconscientious people.”

Park stood firm against the move. She urged party members to look and see if they had done their job faithfully, instead of blaming others.

Park characterized the call for a campaign shake-up as a power struggle, saying the party was in turmoil whenever a sense of crisis hit it.

Her stern reaction came a day after Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan announced he would resign as chief of staff to the Park camp to take responsibility for the feuding in the ruling party.

Choi, a key aide to Park, urged the ruling party members not to play a blame game as the candidate’s ratings were lackluster and prospects for the ruling party winning the December election were murky.

“Pushing an overhaul of the party campaign team is equivalent to giving up the election,” Park said during a meeting with reporters Monday.

Her remark was taken to mean her desire to terminate all party disputes with Choi’s resignation.

Ahn’s “defiance,” meanwhile, will likely deal a severe blow to Park in her bid to strengthen her grip on party affairs.

In a radio interview, Han said he had no intention of resigning.

The origin of the bad blood between Ahn and Han goes back to 2003 when then prosecutor Ahn investigated the key figure in the Kim Dae-jung government. Han was convicted of receiving money from a banker in return for lobbying politicians and received a jail term.

Ahn was called upon by Park earlier to assume the chairmanship of the task force designed to produce a set of measures to root out bad practices that could be a conduit for corruption.

Han joining the Park camp would taint the presidential candidate’s image due to his corruption record, he said.

Ahn added he and other political committee members agreed to resign if “a newly joined figure” assumed the key post. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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