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Former Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye meets reporters waiting outside her home in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on Monday morning.
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Former Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye on Monday criticized the late entry into the presidential race by the twice-defeated candidate and GNP founding member Lee Hoi-chang on an independent ticket. Park, who is seen as a kingmaker in the race between the late entrant and the official GNP candidate Lee Myung-bak, made a long-awaited declaration for the latter in the name of a transfer of power from Left to Right.
"I still believe it's necessary to realize the transfer of power through the GNP,¡± Park said. ¡°Former GNP chairman Lee Hoi-chang has strayed from the right path; we must realize the power transfer through the GNP. I'm a member of the GNP and Lee Myung-bak remains unchanged in his status as the party's presidential nominee."
Now the only remaining variables in the race are how various suspicions about Lee Myung-bak¡¯s personal integrity will play out and whether the broad ruling camp will be able to agree on a single candidate. Chief among the suspicions is a stock price-fixing scandal involving Lee's former business partner Kim Kyung-jun, who will be extradited from the U.S. this week. The ruling camp is expected to step up ad-hominem attacks on Lee Myung-bak and hasten efforts to seek a merger of progressive parties.
Park stopped short of using the term "support" for Lee Myung-bak and appeared negative about Lee's earlier offer of regular three-way meetings with her and GNP chairman Kang Jae-sup -- a proposal that appeared to assure her of the party leadership if Lee is elected. She also appeared to blame Lee Myung-bak at least in part for Lee Hoi-chang's defection from the party. It seems the ex-party chairwoman, Lee Myung-bak¡¯s arch-rival in the party primary, wanted to leave herself room for maneuver depending on whether the suspicions are cleared and what the candidate¡¯s camp does next to seek party unity and reform.
Lee Myung-bak reiterated his willingness to cooperate with Park. At a rally of party members from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, he said, "I will cooperate with former chairwoman Park in realizing the power transfer and march forward with her as a partner to create a new Republic of Korea." Lee's aides believe he can now gain the necessary momentum if he is cleared of the stock price-fixing scandal.
Meanwhile, Lee Hoi-chang said, "I fully understand that under these circumstances, the former GNP chairwoman had no choice but to issue a statement like that."
To what extent Park¡¯s decision will affect popularity ratings remains to be seen. Lee Sang-il, the director of the social and research team at TNS Korea, said Park made more or less the remarks the public expected. ¡°Lee Hoi-chang's popularity ratings will not likely drop suddenly, but there still is the likelihood that his popularity will fall to a smaller extent,¡± he added. Kim Jeong-hye, an executive director with the Korea Research Center, said how far Lee Hoi-chang's popularity ratings will fall in the wake of Park's ¡°not-so-enthusiastic support ¡° for Lee Myung-bak remains to be seen.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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