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The opposition Grand National Party¡¯s leading presidential contenders have agreed to talk with party chairman Kang Jae-sup to seek reconciliation at the party's headquarters in Seoul on Friday.
The talks were suggested by the popular frontrunner Lee Myung-bak and accepted by his main rival Park Geun-hye. "I'll meet her unconditionally if I can,¡± the former Seoul mayor said in a press conference Wednesday. ¡°I'll talk to her about the future and try to seek reconciliation in the party and win public trust." In reply, the ex-GNP chairwoman said she can meet Lee ¡°anytime, anywhere.¡± Park expressed hope that the talks ¡°will be a forum where we can sincerely think about the future of the party and its new image.¡±
Initially, Kang suggested talks over dinner on Thursday. But due to their conflicting schedules the three finally agreed to hold the talks at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. ¡°We will discuss ways to seek reconciliation in the party and hold a 'win-win' primary,¡± Kang said. Lee at the press conference endorsed Kang¡¯s party reform proposals. "After some thought, I've decided to take the tough road to harmonizing reform with reconciliation,¡± Lee said. ¡°For the sake of reconciliation, I won't attach any strings."
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Grand National Party presidential contender Lee Myung-bak speaks at a press conference in his office in Gyeonji-dong, Seoul on Wednesday morning.
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Lee's statement is expected to quell internal strife within the GNP that had threatened to split the party since its crushing defeat in by-elections on April 25. Since late last year, warfare between Lee and Park has almost become a routine, with barely a week without some petty skirmish and some five bigger battles that lasted for more than a week.
The two first clashed in November 2005, when the GNP proposed that party members make up 80 percent of the electoral college in the party's primary. The proposal was advantageous to Park who was then party chairwoman. Lee, however, opposed it, saying the idea would ¡°turn back the clock.¡± Park accepted Lee's counterproposal that invited ordinary citizens take up 50 percent of the electoral college.
The party's national convention in July 2006 to elect a new party chairman turned into a proxy war between Park, who supported Kang Jae-sup, and Lee, who supported Lee Jae-oh. The outcome was in Park's favor. As a member of the party Supreme Council, Lee Jae-oh at one point went on a five-day strike saying Park ¡°meddled¡± in the chairman¡¯s election.
In early January, there were calls from within the party for a thorough vetting of presidential contenders, with Lee Myung-bak apparently the prime target. The plot reached the climax on Feb. 15 when Chung In-bong, Park's legal adviser and a former GNP lawmaker, exposed what he claimed was a damaging file on Lee but which turned out to be merely a dossier of old news reports and court decisions. But demands for the vetting of contenders continue to simmer away beneath the surface.
Lee took the offensive until early 2006, when Park was party chairwoman. But since last fall when he started running ahead in approval ratings, Park has taken the offensive. Although the issues seem different each time, the conflict is essentially a tug of war between the contenders to turn the primary to their advantage. While patching up the party's internal strife on Wednesday, Lee insisted the ¡°real¡± ratio of the invited ordinary citizens in the party primary should be 50 percent ? hinting at another battle to come once the ceasefire is over about how representative the 50 percent of ordinary citizens will be. Lee and Park have made five truces so far, none permanent.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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