Politicians in their 40s taking positions

The appointment of a 47-yearold prime minister-designate has raised the curtain for a new generation of politicians in the limelight two years ahead of the presidential elections.

The nomination of former governor Kim Tae-ho as the prime minister portends fiercer competition within his age group to contest Rep. Park Geun-hye’s standing as the ruling party’s presidential frontrunner.

The Grand National Party’s junior assemblymen in their late 40s and early 50s have already begun to raise their voices, notably after the party was defeated in the June 2 local elections. 

Shortly after President Lee Myung-bak mentioned the need of a “young and vital party,” two-term lawmakers Rep. Na Kyung-won and Rep. Chung Doo-un made it to the GNP leadership in the national convention last month. 

The president replaced his top aides with the up and coming in their early 50s -- Rep. Yim Tae-hee as presidential chief of staff, Baek Yong-ho as chief of policy staff and Rep. Chung Jin-suk as senior secretary for political affairs.

Forty-six-year-old Rep. Wohn Hee-ryong was appointed as the GNP’s secretary general while assemblymen in his age group took over as chiefs of most of the parliamentary standing committees.

Reelected Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon and Gyeonggi governor Kim Moon-soo have also joined the group of presidential hopefuls.

Former GNP chairwoman Park Geun-hye, who lost to Lee Myung-bak in the party’s internal race for the presidential nomination in 2007, leads a faction that a third of the GNP lawmakers belong to. 

The pro-Lee majority, which consists of those following the president’s 74-year-old brother Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, recently resurrected kingmaker Lee Jae-oh and smaller groups of young lawmakers, has yet to groom a heavyweight to match Park. Former party chairman Rep. Chung Mong-joon, Oh Se-hoon and Kim Moon-soo are currently deemed as the next strongest.