Saenuri’s moderate lawmakers to watch the party's reform

Saenuri’s moderate lawmakers to watch the party's reform. December. 24, 2016 07:07. by Jin-Woo Shin niceshin@donga.com.

As remaining lawmakers of Saenuri's pro-Park Geun-hye faction and the defecting lawmakers of the party’s non-mainstream faction intensify competition to secure leadership in the consecutive camp, lawmakers of the party’s moderate group are also increasingly agonizing over whether to bolt from the party or stay put. “I think we will have to wait for about a month to see the intensity of reform before making decision on our future course of actions,” Rep. Lee Ju-young, who is leading the group of moderate lawmakers, told The Dong-A Ilbo over the phone on Friday. “There are about 30 lawmakers in our group.” He indicated that unless the party achieves reform and makes transformation by the end of January, it could bring about a second mass defection of lawmakers’ from the party.

Watchers say Saenuri's former floor leader Chung Jin-seok, who has intention to strongly support U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s presidential campaign, is a "hidden variable." “Now we will see competition of conservative reform between a new conservative party, which will leave the party, and the Saenuri Party, which stays on,” Chung told reporters on Friday.

“If hardline pro-Park faction lawmakers wield influence even a tiny bit in the formation of the emergency committee, no reform measures will be appealing whatsoever to us,” a multi-term lawmaker with a neutral stance said. Another key element that the moderate group lawmakers are waiting to see is how successful the pro-Park faction, which has yet to secure a promising presidential candidate, will be in recruiting potential candidates. “The party has to show determination to recruit even a liberal leader, if the figure is widely respected and competitive, not to mention Secretary-General Ban,” the multi-term lawmaker said.