The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy chose Rep. Lee Jong-kul, a former human rights attorney, as its floor leader Thursday, tasking him with addressing rising factional rifts and leading drawn-out negotiations over public pension reforms.
The fourth-term lawmaker Lee, 57, won 66 of the 127 ballots in the second round of voting, defeating Rep. Choi Jae-sung. Lee will replace exiting floor leader Rep. Woo Yoon-keun.
Reps. Cho Jeong-sik, Kim Dong-cheol and Sul Hoon finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. They failed to secure enough votes to advance to the second round of voting.
“I hope that Rep. Choi will help me lead our party through our current challenge,” Lee said in his victory speech, smiling in front of cameras and fellow legislators. “We must work together and avoid inner division,” Lee added.
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| Lee Jong-kul. (Yonhap) |
The veteran politician faces numerous challenges during his one-year term, observers said.
The imminent task for Lee is to stamp out growing factionalism in the wake of crushing defeats to the Saenuri Party in parliamentary by-elections late last month. The NPAD lost in all four of the contested districts, sparking a blame game among the party’s multiple factions.
Lee will also undertake the daunting task of leading negotiations with the Saenuri Party over proposed public service pension reforms, which is generating significant public attention and criticism.
The proposed amendments to the civil service pension aims to cut the pension’s growing deficit, which must be shouldered by government coffers. Supporters of the reforms assert that the civil service pension is the source of more than 523 trillion won ($480 billion) in public debt.
The main parties had agreed to approve the reform bill at a plenary session Wednesday, but last-minute fissures within each party and President Park Geun-hye’s objection to details of the draft bill derailed efforts to reach an agreement late that day.
Lee will have a voice in picking candidates to run in next year’s parliamentary elections. The polls will decide if the main opposition party can dismantle the governing party’s parliamentary majority.
Lee represents a district in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, a city of 600,000 south of Seoul. NPAD officials generally consider Lee a moderate. He is a grandson of Lee Hoi-young, an anti-Japanese activist in Manchuria during Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)
