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What do the Grand National Party presidential contenders think is the main theme of the 2007 presidential election? Who do they think is their archenemy? At the moment, it seems that former GNP chairwoman Park Geun-hye regards ex-Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak as her worst enemy, Lee regards Park as his, and former Gyeonggi Province governor Sohn Hak-kyu "conservatives" within the GNP. Their main theme for the presidential election campaign should naturally be ending the progressive administration. Instead, they are preoccupied with an internal power struggle.
In stark contrast, an editorial in North Korea's official Rodong Shinmun newspaper shows that Kim Jong-il has a clear concept of who the main enemy in the election is. "If we fail to deter pro-U.S. conservatives, including the GNP, from making progress, we may lose everything the people have gained in their bloody struggle. With this year's presidential election as momentum, we must wage a more determined struggle to bury the pro-U.S. reactionaries,¡± it reads. In a word, North Korea wants to get rid of everyone except the Left. Yet still the GNP front-runners seem to regard rivals within their own party as worse enemies than Kim Jong-il, who is determined to "bury" them.
Concurrent with Kim Jong-il's maneuvers, former president Kim Dae-jung has recently said the government camp "should contribute to producing a single candidate by founding a unified party or at least achieving a coalition in preparation for the presidential election." Some time ago, he reiterated the importance of reviving a regional coalition against the GNP, saying, "We need to restore our traditional support base." In a recent radio talk show, Democratic Party Secretary-General Bae Ki-woon said, "It is necessary to found a powerful party that can stand against the GNP. I believe (Kim Dae-jung) is expecting the DP to play that role. I think that our goal is in agreement with the doctrine of a new party led by ours as envisioned by former president Kim."
Bae was expressing his party's wish that Kim Dae-jung play godfather to a united front aimed at preventing the GNP from taking power. Despite being the incumbent president, Roh Moo-hyun, too, has made anti-GNP remarks. He said the opposition camp's request to form a neutral supervisory Cabinet for the presidential election smacked of ¡°the legacy of dictatorship" and called the GNP hopefuls "anachronistic."
Kim Jong-il, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, then, target the GNP as their archenemy. But the GNP contenders fail to see the forces massed against them or in any case show no response. They seem to believe that the enemy exists only within. To be sure, there has to be some power struggle among candidates as part of the selection process. But in paying too much attention to this process, they have forgotten their original target -- ending the progressive administration. In this regard, the GNP deserves criticism.
In the 1950s, when opposition leaders competed to win the nomination, Dr. Chough Byung-ok said emphatically, "I'm willing to give Dr. Jang Myun a chance." He would surrender his ambition so his party could achieve a greater cause. In response, Jang also declared he was willing to cede to his rival, and Chough won the nomination. Where is today's GNP headed? I am not trying to find fault with what each faction within the GNP thinks is necessary. I am merely reminding the GNP of what it seems to have forgotten: the real goal of the 2007 presidential election.
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