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The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) is considering recruiting new figures who can appeal to young voters following a painful defeat in the Oct. 26 Seoul mayoral by-election. According to an exit poll conducted by three major broadcasters the GNP’s defeat was mainly due to less support from voters in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Park Won-soon, the unified liberal candidate, received 69.3 percent, 75.8 percent and 66.8 percent of the vote, respectively, from these age brackets to win the race. The party’s search for new talent is in line with an analysis made by the Yeouido
Names like Theresa Rah, 38, a former Arirang TV anchorwoman and communication director of PyeongChang’s 2018 bid committee, and Kang Ho-dong, 41, one of nation’s most popular TV presenters, are being mentioned. Rah rose to stardom after an impressive speech during the bid for the Winter Olympics last July. Kang who is considered the No. 1 comedian in Korea recently announced his temporary retirement after coming under fire for tax evasion. Yet, Rep. Joo Ho-young, chief of the GNP’s committee for outside recruitment, denied any specific measures being spoken of. “Nothing is in place right now. There have never been any names mentioned within the party,” said Joo, Monday. “There are many urgent tasks ahead of us such as the Korea-U.S. FTA and budget deliberation.” Regarding media reports that he had already made offers that had been rejected and that GNP is suffering in recruiting outsiders, Joo said, “I didn’t mean my offers were rejected; and it’s not true that the GNP isn’t popular with outside figures. What I said was that I felt there were various political tendencies among people outside the political circle when I met them earlier in my career. So it is nonsense to say (the GNP) is having trouble in recruiting,” added Joo. Despite his denial, however, insiders say that specific plans to recruit fresh figures will start to shape up early next year after the passage of the urgent bills. On the other hand, some GNP members worry that the indiscreet elimination of senior lawmakers in exchange for new faces could lead to a drop in political expertise, pushing the ruling party into a deeper turmoil in the long term. “They are respectable people. But I don’t understand in what context those names were mentioned. It sounds like a joke,” said GNP lawmaker Chung Doo-un in a radio interview Monday. Meanwhile, the GNP is also preparing a policy package for people in their 20s to 40s which it plans to reflect in next year’s budget allocation. Lee Ju-young, chief of the party’s policy committee announced that policies customized to the demand of each age bracket will be introduced this week. He said that policy for those in their 20s will focus on raising employment rates through tax benefits, while that for the 30s and 40s will be on expanding state support for child care and offering zero interest rates for housing.
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| muchung@koreatimes.co.kr |
