Race may have started among GNP hopefuls

In his first two years in office, President Lee Myung-bak strove to groom a successor strong enough to defeat his longstanding GNP rival for the 2012 presidential. 

The task remains unresolved, however, as Park Geun-hye -- Lee’s rival during the ruling party presidential primary in 2007 and his strongest in-house dissenter -- continues to lead polls as the strongest rightwing contender for the 2012 presidential vote. Park, the former chairwoman of the ruling Grand National Party and daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee, enjoys rare nationwide support in this country with regionally-skewed voting patterns.

For such reasons, speculation has mounted over Lee’s hidden intention in his recent Cabinet shakeup.

By bringing a young, relatively unknown politician and his most trusted confidant into the Cabinet, the president appears to be aiming at setting off early competition among rightwing presidential contenders to undermine Park’s leading position, sources said.