GNP, DP ELECT NEW LEADERSHIP, NA SET TO OPEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001370

SIPDIS

PASS USTR FOR CUTLER, TRICK AND YOO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KN KS
SUBJECT: GNP, DP ELECT NEW LEADERSHIP, NA SET TO OPEN

Classified By: POL Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: In early July both the ruling Grand
National Party (GNP) and the main opposition party, the newly
renamed Democratic Party (DP),selected their party
leadership in a move that should end the stalemate over
convening the National Assembly. The election of Park
Hee-tae to lead the GNP is likely to precipitate the
incorporation of Park Geun-hye's supporters currently outside
the GNP. Veteran lawmaker Chung Sye-kyun's election as DP
party chief and the consolidation of leadership within the
party is expected to resolve some of the DP's factional
divide. Ending the boycott, likely to happen by July 10, was
facilitated by Lee Hoi-chang's Liberty Forward Party, giving
the GNP and the DP a face-saving way out of their stand-off.
Nevertheless, challenges abound as both parties struggle to
consolidate their parties, overcome factional divides, and
agree on committee chairs. End Summary.

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GNP: Lee Faction Dominates, Park Faction Appeased
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2. (SBU) The ruling GNP elected former Vice Assembly Speaker
Park Hee-tae to serve a two-year term as party chair. The
election, which took place on July 3 at the GNP National
Convention, included both a vote by party members (weighted
as 70 percent of the final decision) and national polling (30
percent). After Park was elected chairman, the remaining
candidates, including Chung Mong-joon and Huh Tae-yeol, were
appointed to the GNP's Supreme Council.


3. (SBU) Chairman Park is a strong supporter of President
Lee Myung-bak and, though he is not a current member of the
National Assembly, has played an important role in President
Lee's Administration. His election as party chair,
therefore, should signify a strengthening of ties between the
GNP and the Blue House. This is good news for President Lee,
who lost control of the party due to a factional fissure and
the demise of his confidant and power broker Lee Jae-o in the
April National Assembly elections.


4. (SBU) Of particular difficulty for the GNP has been
disagreement over the fate of Park Geun-hye supporters, who
split from the GNP and ran for the National Assembly as
independents or as part of the Pro-Park Alliance (PPA). Park
Hee-tae has called for more unity within the party, saying,
"We cannot waste more time. All of them must rejoin the
party as soon as possible." On July 8 party leaders agreed
in principle that all the so-called "defectors" will be
allowed to rejoin the party, but they differed over the
timing of some of the more controversial figures. After
these 25 Park Geun-hye supporters -- 13 from the PPA and 12
independents -- are incorporated into the GNP, the ruling
party will occupy 178 out of 299 seats.

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DP: Rehabilitation of the "386'ers"?
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5. (SBU) The opposition party held its national convention
on July 6. At the convention, former chairman of the now
defunct Uri Party, Chng Sye-kyun, was elected party
chairman. The party also changed its name from the United
Democratic Party (UDP) to the Democratic Party (DP). Changes
within the party were more substantive; a new collective
leadership system was announced, granting leadership to a
single party chairman. When the UDP was created, joining the
United New Democratic Party with the old Democratic Party,
leadership was shared by a representative from each party.
The party hopes the move to a single chairman will unify the
factionalized party. The Supreme Council was also given
anointed the official decision-making organ of the party.


6. (SBU) The election process included both a party vote and
national polling, similar to the GNP. The DP however, held a
separate election for supreme council members. Members now
include one of former President Roh Moo Hyun's closest
supporters, Ahn Hee Jung. Ahn's election came as a surprise,
because in past elections the DP has followed a trend of
eliminating former government members from party leadership.
In addition to Ahn, the "386ers" -- recently maligned because
of their affiliation with President Roh -- surprisingly got
two other spots on the council: Kim Min-seok and Song
Young-gil.


7. (SBU) Chung Sye-kyun, who is also a former member of
Roh's administration, is considered to be more centrist than
the Roh faction or his main rival for the top spot, Choo
Mi-ae. His neutral stance on party factions gives party
members hope of greater unification. The DP has given him
the directive of demanding renegotiation of the beef
agreement and settling oil prices.

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National Assembly (Finally) to Convene
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8. (SBU) On July 8 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition
parties agreed to reopen the National Assembly within the
week after agreeing to revise the country's livestock
epidemic prevention act. The DP had demanded a renegotiation
of the U.S. beef import pact and had maintained that the
livestock epidemic prevention act be revised to impose limits
on what beef parts can be imported, gain authority to
regulate foreign meat packers and impose an automatic import
ban if a country that exports beef to South Korea confirms a
mad cow case. The GNP, however, remained insistent that
renegotiations with the U.S. are impossible and that two
additional rounds of talks ensured that national interest and
public concerns have generally been satisfied. A compromise
brokered by the Liberty Forward Party, a minor conservative
party, calls for both public concerns and the national
interest to be reflected in any revised livestock act,
although the GNP held firm that no changes would be made that
would violate international trade rules or cause trade
frictions. Both the GNP and DP agreed in principle to find
middle ground on the act once the National Assembly is
reopened, now expected to happen on July 10.

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Comment
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9. (C) As the National Assembly struggles to return to
order, loss of public support for both the GNP and DP over
internal bickering will continue to plague party leadership.
The election of a more moderate leader for the DP may be a
signal that the opposition is ready to cooperate, although
the party remains deeply divided. The GNP, meanwhile, will
need to balance the policies of its unpopular president with
public and DP demands. Regardless, the selection of party
leaders should provide a remedy to the power vacuum that had
made negotiations between the parties so difficult. Still,
they will find their new roles -- GNP as ruling party and DP
as opposition -- take some getting used to.
VERSHBOW