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Grand National Party chairman Kang Jae-sup proposed a plan on Monday to reform the party so it can save itself following its defeat in the April 25 by-elections. Seeking to root out corruption, the plan calls for all leaders of local constituencies to reveal their assets. Kang also proposed a committee to monitor mudslinging among rival presidential contenders in the party and appoint those candidates as advisors to make them participate in party affairs.
It is only natural for Kang to feel the brunt of the responsibility for the election results. He is after all the party¡¯s highest official. He should take responsibility for any improprieties in party nominations or other cases of corruption during the elections. But did Kang play the main role in the defeat and is he the one who should feel the most responsible? The public does not think so. The public pointed out that ¡°division between the two presidential hopefuls Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye¡± (24.7 percent) were just as responsible for the election defeat as ¡°corruption in party nominations¡± (27.7 percent), according to a survey on Saturday by Korea Research.
At present, the two presidential hopefuls, Lee and Park, are the effective leaders of the GNP. The party¡¯s leadership is so powerless that it needs the approval of those two candidates even when it comes to setting rules for the party¡¯s nomination of a presidential candidate. A clear line has been drawn within the party for some time, with lawmakers siding with one candidate or the other.
The two contenders are busy passing the buck for the election defeat. The first thing those two did following the by-elections was to engage in an embarrassing game of passing the blame. The Internet homepages of the two contenders are filled with attacks against each other and no mention of any responsibility for the election results.
The public is not interested in whether a disfranchised leadership resigns or not. The public is watching whether the two contenders, who have behaved as if they owned the party, will take responsibility and act like true leaders. But the two are still only interested in whether the existing party leadership will be beneficial to them or not. The two contenders have seen that their approval ratings had been deceptive, merely reflecting the public¡¯s discontent with the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Even so, the two are showing no signs of repenting.
It is Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye who should step forward and apologize to the public and promise to reform themselves. And even then it remains uncertain whether the public will open their hearts to the GNP.
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