Ruling party routed in by-elections

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling Grand National Party (GNP) suffered a crushing defeat in Wednesday's parliamentary by-elections, losing the five contested seats to independent and opposition candidates.

According to the National Election Commission, independent candidates won three
of the five National Assembly seats at stake, while the main opposition
Democratic Party (DP) managed to win one district in the Seoul metropolitan area.
The remaining one district was won by a candidate from a minority progressive
party.
The GNP had aimed to win three of the five seats, hoping that encouraging
election results would serve as fresh momentum to further reinvigorate the
President Lee Myung-bak government's drive to reform the public sector and revive
the flagging economy.
Lee's public approval ratings have remained below 40 percent over the past months
as many of his policies are increasingly viewed as excessively favorable to
conglomerates and the rich.
In the Bupyeong district, west of Seoul, Hong Young-pyo of the DP, a civic
activist, garnered 49.54 percent of the vote, compared with 39.09 percent earned
by GNP candidate Lee Jae-hoon, formerly vice minister of knowledge economy. The
rival parties clashed most fiercely in the Bupyeong district, which was regarded
as a critical constituency because of its proximity to the capital and political
neutrality.
"My election victory in Bupyeong actually reflected the people's judgment of the
government's mismanagement of state affairs over the past year," said Hong after
his victory was confirmed.
In a Ulsan district, near Busan in the country's southeast, Cho Seung-soo, a
progressive minority party candidate strongly supported by blue-collar workers,
who make up the majority of the industrial city's population, collected 49.2
percent of the valid votes, defeating his nearest rival, GNP candidate Park
Dae-dong, who won 41.37 percent.
The ruling party also lost another key district in the southeast Gyeongsang
province to an independent candidate.
Jeong Jong-bok of the GNP managed to win merely 35.41 percent of the vote and was
defeated by independent candidate Chung Soo-sung, aligned with former GNP
Chairwoman Park Geun-hye, by a margin of over 10 percentage points, in the
Gyeongju district of North Gyeongsang Province.
Independent candidate Chung Dong-young, a former presidential candidate who
recently bolted from the DP, defeated DP candidate Kim Keun-shik, a renowned
North Korea watcher, by an overwhelming margin in his hometown district in
Jeonju, about 300 km south of Seoul. Chung garnered 72.3 percent of the votes,
compared with 13.1 percent for Kim.
Chung defected from the DP earlier this month after he failed to win a nomination
for his hometown district by the party leadership. When announcing his defection,
Chung said the departure would be momentary and vowed to return to reinforce the
struggling opposition party.
"I will strengthen and rebuild the Democratic Party, as it has failed to perform
its role properly," Chung said during a press conference after his victory.
In a nearby district, also in Jeonju, independent candidate Shin Gunn, a former
chief of the National Intelligence Service now aligned with Chung, won a
legislative seat with 50.4 percent of votes, with his DP rival Lee Kwang-cheol
ending the race with 34.9 percent.
Shin is also expected to join the DP together with Chung and take part in efforts
to reform the power structure within the main opposition party.
Reflecting the widespread disappointment, an aide at the presidential office
Cheong Wa Dae, declining to be named, conceded that the presidential office was
somewhat embarrassed by the election defeat.
"We had expected the ruling party to win at least one seat in the by-elections.
But the party failed to win any of the five seats up for grabs. It was deeply
regrettable," the official said.
With the GNP leadership deeply shocked by the unprecedented election defeat,
party spokesman Yoon Sang-hyun issued a brief statement, saying,"We'll humbly
accept the will of the people displayed in the election result."
"We'll look back upon what was wrong with us. Our party will regard the defeat as
an encouragement from the public and further redouble efforts to revitalize the
economy," he said.
The defeat by the ruling party is expected to fuel a change in power structure
within the GNP, possibly raising voices for the current party leadership under
chairman Park Hee-tae to step down, while further polarizing the two major
factions within the party -- one aligned with President Lee and the other
composed of supporters of former chairwoman Park.
Meanwhile, the DP appears encouraged by its victory in Bupyeong, with party
chairman Chung Sye-kyun saying, "The people have given a stern verdict to the
incompetence and misrule of the Lee government. Our party will also work harder
to better play its role as the main opposition party."
Voter turnout in the by-elections, the first since the inauguration of President
Lee in February 2008, was tallied at 40.8 percent, the highest figure in nearly a
decade.