It is now official that President Park Geun-hye’s Saenuri Party has lost their majority in the Korean parliament after recent elections:
Saenuri Party leaders — Reps. Kim Moo-sung (C), Won Yoo-chul (L) and Kim Tae-ho — attend a ceremony marking the disbandment of the party’s election campaign committee at the National Assembly on April 14, 2016 (Yonhap).
“We will make sure to get rid of our arrogance and self-righteousness by gravely reflecting upon the warning issued by the people through this election,” read a group text message a defeated Saenuri Party candidate sent to his constituents on Thursday.
Such humble words were echoed by a number of his colleagues, as the ruling party was reeling from the crushing defeat that stripped it of the status of majority and No.1 parliamentary party.
Indeed, protracting economic doldrums, the party’s factional fighting, and the Park Geun-hye government’s inflexibility and lack of interaction with the legislature, ordinary citizens and other members of society are blamed for the party’s landslide loss in Wednesday’s general election, observers said. [Korea Herald]
The big winner in the parliamentary election was former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo:
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, co-chair of the minority People’s Party, was seen as the biggest winner in the elections. His party won 38 seats, far more than the 20-seat requirement to form a parliamentary negotiating bloc.
The party pledged to become a “genuine representative” to realize people’s aspirations for a change in politics.
“We will pay back with the kind of politics that changes politics, the government and the lives of the people,” he said during a meeting with his party officials. [Yonhap]
Ahn’s parliamentary electoral success may end up being a good jumping board for him to launch another presidential election campaign, especially if the economy continues to be flat in Korea. Ahn could use his businessman background much like Donald Trump does in the US to burnish his credentials to be the next President.
From a US perspective what I think people should look at is whether the election results will cause any softening in President Park’s current hardline policy on North Korea and the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to Korea.
