By Andy Jackson
In comparison to their opponents, the majority Grand National Party has been a model of stability and decorum.
Over the past several years, we have seen more than our fair share of high jinks from the Democratic Party. You never know when they might break into a spasm of shoe throwing, session boycotting or door smashing. And let's not get started on the splits, mergers and name changes that they have gone through over the past few years.
That is not to say that the GNP has been without drama. Party members have sometimes been willing and eager to go toe-to-toe with their progressive opponents in physical combat on the National Assembly floor.
The GNP has also had its fair share of petty struggles over who gets control of the party machinery. Factions supporting President Lee Myung-bak and former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye have been battling for control of the party since the presidential nomination contest between the two in 2007.
Those kind of intra-party power struggles are normal but what is not normal, and downright childish, is that the two sides are now struggling to ``avoid" having power in the party.
More specifically, the Lee Myung-bak faction of the GNP is trying to get members of the Park Geun-hye faction into positions of responsibility within the party while Park's supporters are refusing to accept them.
Party leaders and administration officials recently tried to cut a deal in which Assemblyman Kim Moo-sung, a member of the Park Geun-hye faction, would become the next floor leader. Park vigorously objected to the idea and Kim soon withdrew his name from consideration.
The position would have given Kim an important role in helping shape legislation in the National Assembly and given the Park Geun-hye faction more power within the party.
Park claimed that she was against the move because it ``violates the party's constitution and rules" stating that the position should be filled through an open party election. Of course there is no reason that different groups could not negotiate in the hope of finding a consensus candidate ahead of the vote. In fact, as GNP Chairman Park Hee-tae pointed out recently, current floor leader Hong Joon-pyo was chosen after just such a consensus-building process.
Park Geun-hye is not fooling anyone. There are three probable reasons for her rejection of the agreement, none of which have to do with democratic principles.
First, Park was likely miffed that she was not consulted about the proposal beforehand and that it was announced while she was on a speaking tour in the United States.
Second, she may be holding out for a better offer. There are already talks among GNP members of having the party's national convention earlier than the July 2010 scheduled date and electing Park as party chair. If she were to become chairwoman again (she previously severed from 2004 to 2006), she would have increased influence over the party's candidate nomination process ahead of local elections next year.
However, the third and perhaps single most likely reason for Park's rejection of the floor leader deal is that she ``does not want" more power in the party at this time; an ironic position for any politician to take.
By most accounts, Park performed well in her tenure as chairwoman. Her biggest accomplishment was preventing the GNP's defeat in 2004 in the wake of the Roh Moo-hyun impeachment from becoming a complete rout. She also earned high marks for her performance in the 2006 local elections, when she came back to the campaign trail after being attacked by a man with a box cutter.
But she is no doubt aware that the GNP's success in 2006 was more due to the low popularity of then president Roh Moo-hyun than her leadership. With the large number of seats the GNP must defend in next year's local elections and Lee Myung-bak's continued low poll numbers, the party will almost certainly lose ground.
Park would prefer that neither she nor her followers be in a position where they would have to share the blame for those defeats. Instead, by staying on the side lines until after the local elections, Park will be better able to cast herself as the party's savior coming to rescue it again.
It is little wonder that calls for giving more power to Park and her followers are mostly coming from the Lee Myung-bak faction of the party.
Park's coyness is smart politics but poor leadership.
Park will face a challenge for the GNP's presidential nomination in 2012 from someone based in the capital region, such as Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-su, and the competition will be stiffer than current opinion polls suggest.
Park's foot dragging over taking greater responsibility for the party's fortunes during a difficult time is a disservice to her party and the resulting discord in the GNP is a disservice to voters who put the party in power in the Blue House and the National Assembly.
Let's hope they remember that in 2012.
Andy Jackson has taught courses on American government and has been writing on Korean politics and other issues for four years. He can be reached at andyinrok@lycos.com.