The Korea Herald

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[Editorial] Ruling party in chaos

By Korea Herald

Published : Dec. 7, 2011 - 20:06

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The Grand National Party has been urged to dissolve itself for the creation of a new party. The demand is coming not from outside but from members of the ruling party ― a party that is in disarray though it has the National Assembly under its control.

Creative dissolution may be one of the most viable choices open to the party, which, as one leading member puts it, is plummeting into a bottomless pit. He says “one bottom after another is collapsing” under the feet of the ruling party, which is called on to hold itself responsible for cyber attacks on the National Election Commission and the opposition Seoul mayoral candidate’s camp on the day of the Oct. 26 by-election.

The party has been sent into panic since police said last week that an aide to a ruling party lawmaker ordered distributed denial-of-service attacks on the computer systems of the electoral watchdog and the opposition candidate’s election committee. Findings about the DDoS attacks dealt another blow to the party, which had lost the mayoral race to an independent liberal candidate. The opposition Democratic Party is demanding a thorough investigation, claiming that the low-level aide cannot be the sole culprit.

On Tuesday, 10 lawmakers of the ruling party demanded that it disband itself for the creation of a new party. Insisting the party would otherwise suffer a landslide defeat in the April general elections, the demoralized lawmakers demanded it take the process of dissolution immediately after the National Assembly closes its current session next Monday.

Their demand appeared to signal a forthcoming internecine battle between the supporters of President Lee Myung-bak and those loyal to Rep. Park Geun-hye. Fueling the factional struggle were remarks made by a former floor leader, who said Lee, those close to him, Park and the incumbent party leadership must be held accountable for the crisis.

Now attention is drawn to how the Park faction will respond to the lawmakers’ demand. Pushing for a leadership change undoubtedly is among the options the faction is considering.

The time of reckoning is fast approaching. The party has little time to squander, as a growing number of eligible voters are wondering if it should be disbanded, as demanded, because it has outlived its mandate as a political party.