Rival parties clashed on Friday over the main opposition party leader’s proposal to conduct a public poll on the prime minister nominee Rep. Lee Wan-koo, in an apparent move to pressure him to resign.
The proposal by New Politics Alliance for Democracy chair Rep. Moon Jae-in came a day after the main parties agreed to delay a plenary vote on approving Lee’s nomination to early next week.
“We asked to push the plenary session to next week as we wanted to give Rep. Lee time to think about his future,” Moon said, suggesting that he step down.
“I propose conducting a public poll (on Lee). We are ready to accept any result that reflects the will of our citizens.”
Governing Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min expressed “regret” at Moon’s suggestion, saying that the opposition leader had reneged on Thursday’s bipartisan agreement to hold a plenary vote next week. The floor leader vowed to hold the vote as scheduled on Monday.
If lawmakers go ahead with Monday’s vote, the Saenuri Party’s majority guarantees Lee’s nomination, analysts said. Moon appears to have proposed the poll to pressure Lee to resign as his party has no legal means to block the vote.
Yoo said the Saenuri Party had already “yielded much” to the opposition when the party agreed to postpone the plenary vote after the NPAD asked for a delay.
“I see no problem in holding the vote on Monday. Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa has promised he would attend to oversee the vote. Our party will be there,” Yoo said.
Yoo’s statements come despite worsening public opinion against Lee. The nominee faces allegations of speculating in property, evading the mandatory military draft, and threatening faultfinding reporters.
Over 40 percent of the 1,010 respondents in a Gallup Korea poll conducted from Feb. 10 to 12 said they are against Lee’s nomination to the Cabinet’s No. 2 job. The tally is a rise from 20 percent in a survey conducted during the last week of January.
The Gallup count echoes similar results of a tally conducted by the NPAD on Thursday. The results showed up to 55 percent of the 1,000 respondents opposed Lee’s appointment.
NPAD officials initially expressed confusion at Moon’s remarks, saying the new party chair had proposed the poll without consulting his top advisors.
NPAD representatives later tried to downplay their party chief’s proposal.
“Rep. Moon meant that our party would carefully consider the public’s opinion on the prime minister nominee over the weekend before Monday’s plenary session,” Rep. Kim Yung-rok, head NPAD spokesman, said.
By Jeong Hunny(hj257@heraldcorp.com)
