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All three major political parties under ‘emergency’ leadership

All three major political parties under ‘emergency’ leadership

Posted June. 30, 2016 08:27,   

Updated June. 30, 2016 09:08

한국어

For the first time ever, South Korea’s all major political parties are under an “emergency system,” as Ahn Cheol-soo and Chun Jung-bae, co-chairmen of the People's Party, offered to resign on Wednesday amid a corruption scandal involving three members of the minor opposition party. The parties are facing cynical criticisms that “abnormalities have become normal.”

Both the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea are under “emergency” leadership. They have left their leadership in the hands of outsiders, as their former leaders elected through their respective party conventions resigned over the parties’ internal feuds.

The People’s Party is also considering asking an outsider to take the helms. However, it is hard for an outsider to exercise a strong leadership in a political party that has a strong presidential contender and various factional interests are intertwined. “It is impossible to think of the People’s Party without Ahn Chul-soo,” the party's floor leader Park Jie-won told a radio talk show.

Analysts point out that the current situation of the three major parties reveals the vulnerabilities of the country’s party politics. “Such a situation is undesirable in terms of the stability and institutionalization of party politics,” said Park Myoung-ho, a professor of political science at Dongguk University. “The emergency leadership system is a dishonorable matter for party politics in that it resorts to outsiders’ power and causes.”



송찬욱 기자song@donga.com