The Bulldozer has already started bulldozing a path of destruction — through his own party — with the GNP leadership announcing that 25 incumbent lawmakers in Park Geun-hye Country (a.k.a. Gyeongsang-do) will be replaced in the April general election.
Those dropped include a three-term lawmaker and a five-termer.
To be fair, the 25 were split roughly in half between pro-Park and pro-Lee officials. Not that it matters to Park, of course:
In a press conference at the National Assembly, former party chairwoman Park Geun-hye said, “It seems to me that the nomination process is going very badly.” The leader of the second most powerful party faction, Park warned, “If we participate in the general election based on this kind of nomination process, the GNP will remain in trouble and find it hard to be reconciled.”
She was also upset that, apparently unbeknown to her, a key member of her own faction apparently agreed to the shake-up:
The press conference was prompted by an earlier report on “CBS-No Cut News” that party secretary-general Lee Bang-ho, a loyalist of President Lee Myung-bak, and a key member of Park’s faction had agreed to replace up to 50 percent of the incumbent Gyeongsang lawmakers.
“I can’t suppress my anger” at such dirty tactics, Park said. “Secretary-general Lee should name the key member of my faction or I am going to make sure that the man’s identity is revealed.” She stressed the need to hold Lee Bang-ho responsible for the incident, saying, “I believe that someone has to take the blame for this terrible situation.”
Lee Bang-ho, for the record, denied discussing the nominating process with either Cheong Wa Dae or anyone in Park’s circle.
Anyway, the love affair between LMB and Park is over:
“Didn’t President Lee Myung-bak promise us before that there will be a fair nomination process with a reasonable standard for the nominating committee to follow?” Park said. “But even the public thinks that this is not a fair game. And that means the trust is over between us.”
Well, at any rate, one lawmaker dropped from the nomination process, Rep. Kim Moo-sung — who, despite his apparent views on the ability of women to serve as head of state, was a close aid of Park Geun-hye — has announced he will leave the party and would run as an independent. He’ll be joined by others, no doubt.
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The party that Park GH helped bring back to life after the impeachment fiasco is now abandoning Park… great.
I hope she does not leave the party tho. With the economy set to worsen and Lee MB’s absolutely pathetic track record since the election (trasition team full of dumbasses, corrupt minister nominations, etc), Lee MB’s popularity will probably sink very soon and Park GH will regain her stand within the party.
“It is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven” . . . maybe so, depending upon ones perspective. When I think of Han-nara, if that party does not do better in terms of improvement, in five years, it will be like living in hell for all of them.
can anyone say korean politics is boring?
^ I think It’d be extremely hard to find politics that’s as fun as Korea’s. I mean, where else would you find politicians running around with chainsaws and throwing chairs at each other?
Taiwan but then they get with the 2×4 vibe as well.
I am actually impressed that the parties are actually getting rid of some of their crooks, rather than just stashing them away in safe districts or on the PR list. For the GNP, that is an especially plesant surprise.
They certainly not perfect but these purges are a step in the right direction.
Taiwan? Or do they specialize in food fights?
I heard about Taiwanese politicians throwing chairs but I have yet to hear about them with chainsaws.
With 145 Lee loyalists on the party’s ticket compared to the 42 for the Park faction, it is looks pretty suspicious that a fix is in.
Notice that none of the guys that were chopped from the Lee faction are raising waves. This leads to speculation that they’ve already been promised jobs in the Lee administration — atleast the ones that Lee and his ministers are trying to force existing Roh appointees out of.
Also I think these goofballs in the nominating committe are making a big mistake. Many Korean voters don’t vote based on issues — they vote on recognition. If the guy looks familiar — as the incumbent is — they simply vote him back in office. If the guy runs as an independent with a good photo, he stands a good chance of being reelected.
Lee is making a big mistake that the Koreans voted HIM into office — they didn’t. They simply voted a conservative that the GNP put up for the vote. The second thing is that many Koreans remember that the GNP is the party that Park Geun-hee saved from extinction after the face-slapping fiasco of the Roh impeachment process. Lee Myeong-bak is playing a dangerous game in trying to stack the deck for the April election.
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