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February 02, 2008
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Lee was appointed chairman of the new conservative party at Jangchung Gymnasium in downtown Seoul, with more than 2,700 registered party members in attendance. Once the LFP merges with the People’s First Party, which it is expected to do on on Feb. 12, it will likely become the nation’s fourth-largest party. People’s First currently has four seats in the National Assembly. People’s First chairman Sim Dae-pyung and three other party lawmakers announced they would join Lee’s new party and were at the event yesterday. Rep. Koak Sung-moon, who left the Grand National Party last year, also joined the fray, while Reps. Yoo Jay-kun and Park Sang-don on Thursday announced their departure from the United New Democratic Party to join Lee. It means the Liberty Forward Party, armed with the seven seats it gains from the lawmakers joining the group, will become the fourth-largest political party after the UNDP, GNP and Democratic Labor Party. It will be ahead of the Democratic Party, which has six seats. “I was tumbling at the very bottom of the latest presidential election,” Lee said in his speech to party members yesterday. His new party will stand against the structure of antiquated political parties relying on regional voter support and anachronistic left-wing ideologists, he said. “Also, we will not sit back and watch moves to spread wrong philosophies under the name of pragmatism or make easy compromises,” he said. Lee, a former Supreme Court judge and national audit board head well known for his sharp criticism and punishment of law-bending government agencies and officials, made his first presidential bid in in 1998, losing by a hair to Kim Dae-jung. He lost again in the 2002 elections to current president Roh Moo-hyun. Soon after, he declared his retirement from the political scene. Then, last December, he made yet another bid for the presidency, garnering a 15.1 percent voter turnout, leaving him in third place after President-elect Lee Myung-bak and UNDP candidate Chung Dong-young. By Jung Ha-won Staff Reporter [hawon@joongang.co.kr] |
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