The ruling Saenuri Party said Monday that it would hold a national convention on Aug. 9 to elect a new leadership, which will replace the current interim arrangement launched in the wake of the party's crushing defeat in the April parliamentary polls.

Currently, the party is led by the so-called emergency planning and innovation committee tasked with reorganizing the party and shoring up public support, which has waned in the wake of the factional rift and high-profile infighting.

The committee is led by Kim Hee-ok, the former head of the Government Public Ethics Committee.

Before Kim was appointed to lead the committee earlier this month, the party was left rudderless for more than a month as former leader Kim Moo-sung bowed out to take responsibility for the electoral defeat.

The party won just 122 seats in the 300-member unicameral parliament, with the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea securing

123 seats. (Yonhap)