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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Economy

[IMPEACHMENT] Saenuri on verge of split

  • PUBLISHED :December 21, 2016 - 17:34
  • UPDATED :December 21, 2016 - 17:35
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[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party is finally splitting, with more than a quarter of its 128 lawmakers having declared their defection on Dec. 21 to create a new political group. 

A total of 31 lawmakers from the country’s only conservative party gathered early in the morning at the National Assembly to announce their abandonment of party membership. Four more are set to follow suit, they revealed.

“We decided to part from the fake conservatives and agreed to establish a new core to lead true conservative politics,” Rep. Hwang Young-cheul representing the rebels’ group said in a press meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul. Their defections, however, are not immediately effective, as they picked Dec. 27 as the date for their departure.  

The move came as the factional feud reached its peak in the governing bloc following the parliamentary impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. While Saenuri’s chieftains remain loyal to Park, their opponents, belonging to the so-called non-Park or anti-Park faction, have been demanding an overhaul of the party to regain voter trust.

This is the party’s first breakup since its establishment and is highly likely to spark significant changes in South Korea’s political landscape ahead of the 2017 presidential election.

There have been similar attempts by lawmakers to quit and establish a new political party in both the liberal and conservatives wings in 1995 and 1997, but the numbers did not reach the minimum requirement of 20 needed to form a negotiation body at the National Assembly. 

The leaving party members include the sixth-term lawmaker and former head of the ruling Saenuri Party Rep. Kim Moo-sung and former floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min, whom the defecting group tried to place as the chief of the party’s emergency planning committee before the loyalist leadership rejected it.

Rep. Kim asked for forgiveness for disappointing the citizens and fellow party members for supporting President Park in the first place.

“I have always believed Korea will change if the conservative party is warm and righteous. But I have decided that such revolution is impossible in the current Saenuri Party,“ said Rep. Yoo, adding that he seeks to start a new “honorable” party.

The remaining lawmakers loyal to Park strongly condemned the defecting members’ decision, calling it a “groundless and cowardly move.”

Pro-Park floor leader Chung Woo-taik also showed disappointment. “I am sorry the non-Park faction decided to leave the party, and particularly disappointed that Rep. Yoo had not talked about this with me before,” he said.

He had been elected as the floor leader last week, beating Rep. Na Kyong-won from the non-Park faction.

If a new political party is formed, it would be the first in 26 years since there had been four main political parties, with the three existing liberal parties -- the Democratic Party of Korea, People‘s Party and Justice Party -- and the conservative Saenuri Party.

Regarding proportional representatives who lose their membership of the Assembly when they secede from the party, Rep. Hwang requested Saenuri leadership to cancel their party membership. 

By Jo He-rim/The Korea Herald (herim@heraldcorp.com)

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