Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, a standout loyalist of President Park Geun-hye, was elected Tuesday as the new chairman to lead the ruling Saenuri Party, reconfirming the formidable grip of the president, despite her looming lame-duck period, and paving the way for her faction to lead the party through next year’s presidential election.

Lee’s rise to leadership also marked the conservative party’s first-ever chairman to be born and based in the nation’s progressive-leaning southwestern region.

With Lee at the helm, presidential hopefuls considered close to Park -- namely U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon -- are likely to get a boost in their anticipated bids. Other potential candidates such as former chairman Kim Moo-sung, ex-whip Rep. Yoo Seung-min and former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, on the other hand, are likely to face a tougher journey toward party nomination. 

“It is with a heavy sense of responsibility, rather than joy, that I hereby accept the Saenuri Party’s chairman position,” said Lee at Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium, where the party’s national convention was held.

The party’s national convention was its first since this year’s April 13 general election defeat and its fourth since the name change from Grand National Party to the current Saenuri Party in February 2012. The day’s events included an internal election to select a new chairman and a five-member Supreme Council.

Lee was elected through a nationwide in-party vote, combined with public polls. Some 69,817 electorate members voted prior on Sunday, while some 9,100 representative officials cast their ballots at the scene of the national convention.

Along with Lee, five Supreme Council members were elected -- Reps. Cho Won-jin, Lee Jang-woo, Kang Seok-ho, Choi Yeon-hye and Yoo Chang-soo, a majority of which were based in the conservative stronghold Daegu and Gyeongsang provinces.

“From this moment, there can be no faction whatever within the party,” the chairman-elect said, urging the party to leave factional feuds behind and move forward. Lee will be joined by already-elected reformist floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk.

Lee became the party’s first official chairman since the general election in which the Saenuri Party suffered a crushing defeat, temporarily giving away a parliamentary majority to opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea and People’s Party. Since June, the party has been steered by an interim leadership, with nonparty member and former Constitutional Court justice Kim Hee-ok as chief.

With his two-year term as chairman, it is Lee who will be leading the party into the nation’s 19th presidential election, which is slated for December 2017.

“I will single out presidential candidates who may survive the tight race and assume the nation’s future power,” Lee said.

He also pledged to fix the current candidate nomination system, alluding to the party’s nomination feuds during the run-up to the April race. Amid deepening strife between the pro-presidential nomination committee and nonmainstream leadership, a number of nomination dropouts chose to defect from the party.

His leadership also assumes greater power upon a change in party regulations that bestows higher authority to the chairman, rather than sharing power with the Supreme Council members.

Lee’s win followed an appearance and speech by President Park earlier in the day, which was widely seen as a move to support her former senior secretary.

“The role of the incoming leadership is to make sure the nation does not falter or split,” Park said in her opening speech, urging the party to end factional brawls and to regain public trust.

Lee’s “reformative” pledge, meanwhile, has already faced some skepticism, as many attributed the factional divide to the pro-Park clique’s monopolization of power in the first place.

“Those who should take responsibility (for the election defeat) are once again reaching out for power, turning a deaf ear to the people’s warning,” said Rep. Joo Ho-young, who came second to Lee in the chairmanship race. Joo, who was seen to represent the non-Park faction, was tailed by Reps. Lee Ju-young and Han Sun-kyo.

Having left the party following candidacy exclusion and then making his return to the party afterwards, Rep. Joo is seen as a symbol of the party’s reformist group and a victim to factional fighting.


By Bae Hyun-jung
(tellme@heraldcorp.com)