Five MPK lawmakers vie for speaker's post

Outgoing National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, center, poses with Deputy Speakers Jeong Kab-yoon, right, of the ruling Saenuri Party and Lee Seok-hyun of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea after a ceremony to mark the end of their tenure at the National Assembly, Friday. The term of the 19th parliament ends on Sunday, with the new Assembly to begin its tenure the following day. / Yonhap

By Kim Hyo-jin

With the opening of a new National Assembly just around the corner, the race to find a new speaker is kicking into high gear among veteran lawmakers of the Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) who each claim they are the best fit for the post.

Although which party will assume the position is still under negotiations, the main opposition, which became the Assembly’s largest party in the April 13 general election with 123 seats, is expected to produce the speaker for the first half of the parliament’s four-year term that begins on Monday.

Moon Hee-sang, Lee Seok-hyun and Chung Sye-kyun, all of whom won their sixth Assembly terms in last month’s election, remain in contention, while five-term lawmakers Park Byeong-seug and Won Hye-young are also regarded as serious contenders.

Given the high number of candidates, the party is likely to hold an in-house primary to pick a finalist.

Moon appeals to the party members, presenting himself as a rare politician who has shared the legacy of late Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. He served as a presidential secretary in 1998 for the Kim administration and Roh’s first presidential chief of staff from 2003 to 2004.

Moon also has experience serving as the head of the emergency planning committee twice following a defeat in the 2012 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Chung has established himself as a competent candidate after defeating former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in the general election. Oh had been a potential presidential hopeful for the ruling Saenuri Party. He promised to serve the speaker’s role for two full years, conscious of the rising suspicion that he might quit in the middle of the term to run for President in 2017.

Lee is the incumbent vice speaker who has been credited with being a centrist. Lee, who does not belong to any faction in the MPK, stresses that his independence can appeal to the splinter opposition People’s Party which is at odds with the MPK’s dominant faction of Roh Moo-hyun loyalists.

Park is courting fellow lawmakers, stressing the importance of the Chungcheong region that has served as the traditional swing vote in the nation’s many elections.

“The MPK needs support from the region to win next year’s presidential election and in this respect, I am the right fit for the post,” said Park, who has been elected to a district of Daejeon for five consecutive terms. He was a former vice speaker of the 19th National Assembly.

Won, who served as the first floor leader of the 18th Assembly, is seeking to win votes by selling the fact that he led the revision of the National Assembly law.

The revision bill, endorsed in 2012, strengthened the requirements for the speaker to exercise authority to put a bill to a vote. The bill added that rival parties must agree to table a bill for a vote, causing strong opposition from the ruling party.

“I cleared the scene of nasty scuffles from the Assembly. Now I want to upgrade it further,” Won said.

According to the National Assembly law, the speaker is elected with a majority vote of incumbent Assembly members in the first week of a new National Assembly session.

The largest party has customarily secured the National Assembly speaker post. The MPK became the top party with 123 seats while the ruling Saenuri Party won 122 seats and the splinter opposition People’s Party secured 38 seats in the April 13 general election. The remaining two parties are expected to take two vice speaker posts.

Floor leaders of the rival parties agreed last week to form the chair group of the National Assembly by June 7.