Kim Moo-sung, leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, has been downplaying the efforts of opposition parties to recruit outside figures as candidates for the April 13 general election.

In his New Year’s news conference Monday, Kim again dismissed the opposition’s recruiting endeavors as a mere “show” aimed at improving their public image. Parties should not delude the people and they should try to compete with policy and vision, he said.

It is not difficult to see why Kim is so convinced -- or at least tries to seem so convinced -- about the recruiting drive. Since he took over the Saenuri leadership, he has pushed for “bottom-up” nomination of candidates as his key reform agenda.

There is some suspicion -- with solid grounds -- that Kim, who does not belong to the party’s mainstream faction loyal to President Park Geun-hye, is pushing for the nomination reform to check Park and her associates from exerting influence in selecting candidates.

In Monday’s press conference, Kim accused opposition parties of maintaining top-down nominations, in which a few powerful members handpick candidates in the name of recruiting fresh figures. Saenuri instead will field “grassroots” candidates chosen by bottom-up nominations and will surely win the election, he said.

What’s unfolding, however, goes contrary to Kim’s wishes. Overcoming some early-stage setbacks, including recruitment of ethically questionable figures, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea and the People’s Party led by Ahn Cheol-soo are enlisting one outside figure with good reputation after another. One highlight was the appointment of Kim Jong-in, who served as the chief economic adviser to President Park, as the head of the Minjoo’s campaign committee.

It is no coincidence that the latest polls show the approval ratings for the opposition groups are going up, while that of the ruling party is stagnant.

A key point Kim must read from the polls is that a majority of voters are disenchanted with the current National Assembly members. It indeed is important how candidates are nominated, but who are selected is far more important.