Tensions between the main opposition party’s biggest factions escalated Wednesday when the party whip sat out a routine meeting to protest the chairman’s controversial selection of the next party secretary-general.
The renewed tension is expected to derail recent efforts by the New Politics Alliance for Democracy to end months of internal wrangling, often cited as one of the causes of the party’s low approval rating, and losses in the April parliamentary by-elections.
NPAD chair Rep. Moon Jae-in’s selection of Rep. Choi Jae-sung as secretary general sparked renewed protest from party whip Rep. Lee Jong-kul and the non-Roh faction. The non-Rohs think the dominant pro-Rohs are monopolizing key party posts. Choi and Moon belong to the pro-Roh group.
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| Moon Jae-in (Yonhap) |
“I have repeatedly urged the chairman to open doors to the (non-Rohs),” Lee had said late Tuesday, minutes after Moon had finalized his choice of Choi as the next secretary-general. “But the chairman has closed those doors through this selection.”
As the next secretary-general, Choi will hold much clout over the selection of NPAD candidates for the 2016 parliamentary elections. The party will seek to overturn the majority held by the Saenuri Party, which has 160 of the 298 parliamentary seats.
But the non-Rohs claim that Moon’s nomination of Choi only reinforces the notion that Moon and the pro-Rohs want to dominate the party. If that alleged trend continues, the non-Rohs may exit the party and create a rival opposition party, party insiders said, asking not to be named.
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| Choi Jae-sung (Yonhap) |
The latest fight comes after mutual suspicion worsened between the non-Rohs and the pro-Rohs in the wake of the NPAD’s defeats to the ruling Saenuri Party in the April parliamentary by-elections. The non-Rohs had demanded Moon to resign his chairmanship after the losses.
The party had failed to win any of the four contested seats, stoking discussion that an alternative opposition political force may be needed.
Moon refused, triggering the resignation of Rep. Joo Seung-yong from the party’s Supreme Council. Joo was the sole non-Roh official on the party’s top decision-making panel.
That fight was followed by acrimonious tweets by pro-Roh Rep. Kim Kyung-hyub, who called the non-Rohs “unworthy of party membership.”
By Jeong Hunny
(hj257@heraldcorp.com)
