Former Uri Leaders at Odds with Cheong Wa Dae

Two former Uri Party chiefs, Chung Dong-young and Kim Geun-tae, have an axe to grind. Kim and Chung, the leaders of the two main factions of the Uri Party, held a press conference only a day after President Roh Moo-hyun criticized, on the Cheong Wa Dae website, those who want to dissolve the Uri Party. The two former chiefs hinted at their pending defection from the Party and demanded that the president stop his political meddling. They set May 31 as the deadline for disbanding the Party, placing great pressure on the party leadership

The president should not interfere with the presidential election-

Regarding his defection, Chung said at the conference, “I regard withdrawal from the party as a step towards greater integration. The time has come for decisions to be made.”

He emphasized, “I understand that the president thinks the Party should remain intact, but I beg to differ. It is an established principle and what people want is for a sitting president not to get involved in presidential primaries and beyond.”

Chung stressed, “I will ask party Chief Chung Sye-kyun if he will stay with the Party. If tangible results can’t be produced, party leadership would do well to declare party dissolution.”

Substantial results need to be produced by the end of the month-

Kim also held a press conference at the National Assembly, saying, “A Consensus should be built that through the disbandment of the Party, those who want peaceful reforms can have their voices heard.”

As to what the president wrote, Kim criticized, “Passing comment on sensitive political issues can backfire and this is what the president has done on many occasions. He should stop doing this immediately.”

Kim said, “To accomplish greater integration by mid June, concrete results should be produced by the end of May.” Regarding the question of whether he is willing to walk out on the Party, along with Chung, he replied, “I can’t give a definite answer here, but I will discuss the matter with him (Chung).”

Split first and then get together later?-

It seems the two former leaders’ comments dealt a severe blow to the Party, which in turn criticized the two men. The current head of the party said, “They should have chosen their words more carefully.” Uri Party whip Jang Young-dal said, “Frequent defection is not right.”

Uri Party lawmaker Shin Ki-nam said, “Due to the president’s opposition to party dissolution, some argue against greater integration. These people are just making excuses.”

Cheong Wa Dae did not pass comment. However, a Cheong Wa Dae official said, in response to Chung Dong-young’s categorizing the president among those who want to stick with the Party, “Even though president Roh quit the Party, he still believes the founding ideology and identity of the Party should remain.”

In the face of opposition from party leaders and others who have chosen to stick with the Party, should the two former leaders push ahead with their plan, at least 30 lawmakers will follow suit; significantly reducing the number of Uri Party seats in the National Assembly to a mere 70.”

If that happens, the Uri Party will be divided into five separate factions; a pro-president group, plus proportional representatives; Chung and Kim’s group; Kim Han-gill and Kang Bong-kyun’s group; Chun Jung-bae’s group; and the remaining members.

This means there will be seven-to-eight anti-GNP (the Grand National Party) and pro-Integration groups. The Ubiquitous Political Party, The People First Party and various civic and social groups all fall into the aforementioned seven-to-eight. It would be a Herculean task to incorporate them as one.