People’s Party Park Jie-won to initiate overhaul of the party

People’s Party Park Jie-won to initiate overhaul of the party. July. 04, 2016 07:35. by 길진균기자, 송찬욱 leon@donga.com,기자song@donga.com. Park Jie-won, interim leader of the People’s Party, has initiated an overhaul of the party, such as change of party identity. Some said this aims to eliminate the color of Ahn Cheol-soo, former co-leader of the People’s Party.

Early next week, the People’s Party plans to change from the “backdrop” of the supreme leaders' meeting room. The overhaul order was reportedly made by Park last week. “The party is working on reviewing in full scale the existing party identity such as the backdrop and emblem,” a party official said. “Whether to use green color as the party’s symbol is also to be reviewed.”

The party emblem symbolizing human along with the logo are currently hang on the wall of the party’s meeting room. The new leadership seems to be trying to bail out of the suspicion of rebate scandal, as those were known to have been made by Rep. Kim Soo-min during the election campaign.

There have been growing complaints among the members who were shunned during the process where pro-Ahn members nestled to the fore from the beginning. Therefore, it can be said that the interim chief’s overhaul move has been initiated by the controversy over the party’s operating system, of which Ahn was at the very center.

Observers speculate that the recent move has been made to recruit Sohn Hak-kyu, former adviser to the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea. It can be interpreted that the party is trying to broaden some boundary for Sohn. “Our party will make an effort to recruit external personnel including Sohn since the People’s Party has been claiming to be an open party,” Park told the joint meeting of party leadership, while expressing his will to recruit Sohn again in public.