The Rise of the Lee Hoi-chang Faction; The Fall of the Choe Byung-yul Faction

The Rise of the Lee Hoi-chang Faction; The Fall of the Choe Byung-yul Faction. February. 29, 2004 22:49. by Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com.

With the very end of the Grand National Party (GNP)’s public nomination, the rise of party members stands out in sharp contrast to the fall of non-party members.

After finishing with 80 percent of the public nominations out of 242 local constituencies last week, the GNP takes a line that it should complete screening regarding regions, which was in a tangle or which applied for a new trial this week.

The subject of heavy fire in the process of screening was Lee Hoi-chang, the previous president of the GNP, and his acquaintances.

It seemed that the seeking of Choe Byung-yul, the president of GNP, for breaking off his connection with Lee is related to this.

Following the secretary general of the GNP in Lee’s days and Kim Ki-bae’s exclusion from public nomination, every party member left out, including Kim Il-yoon, Park Won-hong, Kim Young-Il, who was defeated by investigation of the prosecution about the general election fund, and Choi Don-woong, were Lee’s acquaintances.

According to sources, Ha Soon-bong (the former, Chinju, Kyungnam), Lee’s acquaintance, was also determined to be left out of a public nomination.

The camp of Suh Chung-won, who was in a war with Choi concerning party hegemony in June 2003, is struggling against ongoing public nominations, saying that the exclusion of its members is retaliatory.

Park Jong-hee is also on the list of screening for exclusion from public nomination. Further, Kim Bon-soo, the chairman of the later, Yongin, Kunki, was already left out.

On the other hand, it is quite disputable that a lot of rising candidates, who made their appearance in the process of public nomination, are Choi’s acquaintances.

The distinctive feature is the rise of coming politicians, who belong to “the way of Korea,” consisting of Choi’s acquaintances. Park Hyung-jun, a professor of Dong-A University (Suyeong, Busan) who is determined to be a possible candidate, Kim Hee-jung, the deputy spokesperson of the GNP (Yeonje, Busan), and Lee Sung-Kuon, the previous president of the students’ association of Busan University (Jinul, Busan) all belonged to this association..

In cases where some regions are in a tangle, on the other hand, it is criticized that the guidance division of the GNP is backing someone who does not have any connection with the region.

In case of the former, Kyeyang, Incheon, Mr. Yim, who is determined to be a strong candidate, does not have any connection with the region. Further, he is the person who was preparing for the public nomination in Daegu, Kyungbuk. In the case of Mr. Kim, who is watching for a chance in Nam, Busan, there is a rumor that it is because of somebody’s backup, because he was the person who moved three to four regions, even in Busan.