Presidential hopefuls jockey for position

As Sohn Hak-kyu enjoys the spotlight as the new opposition leader, political heavyweights across parties are growing tense, gauging the possible impact that Sohn’s rise may have on their dream of becoming the next president. 

On Monday, Sohn continued to step up his criticism of President Lee Myung-bak and the ruling Grand National Party, which political observers view as an attempt to clarify his political stance as the leader of the liberal opposition Democratic Party. 

Sohn entered politics as a member of the conservative GNP and served as governor of Gyeonggi Province from 2002 to 2006. He bolted from the then-opposition party in 2007 after he was dropped from its presidential primary against Lee and former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye.

Park Geun-hye

Sohn has criticized Lee’s hard-line stance on North Korea. “The Lee Myung-bak administration should restart inter-Korean exchange programs, pursuing peace on the Korean Peninsula through cooperation with the North,” he said. 

“I strongly urge the government to resume humanitarian rice aid to the North,” Sohn said during a meeting of the DP’s top decision-making body, the Supreme Council. 

The South Korean government has severed all inter-Korean exchange programs, including humanitarian aid, after it blamed the North for sinking one of its warships, killing 46 sailors in March. 

Sohn, 63, was elected earlier this month as chairman of the main opposition DP, beating out rivals Chung Dong-young and Chung Sye-kyun, whom he is expected to face in the race for the party’s presidential primary in about two year’s time. 

Sohn Hak-kyu

The victory is seen as a great boost to Sohn, who does not hide his presidential ambitions, allowing him a chance to solidify his powerbase within the party and raise his public profile as the opposition leader. 

In a popularity poll conducted after the DP leadership ballot, Sohn came in second out of a pack of politicians seen as potential presidential candidates. According to pollster Dongseo Research, Sohn received an 11.8 percent popularity rate, trailing behind Park Geun-hye at 31.5 percent. It was the first time that his popularity surpassed 10 percent. 

Not to be outdone, former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and former DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun are expected to make strategic moves to strengthen their positions as presidential candidates. 

Outside the DP, political watchers are keenly following the moves of former leader Park, daughter of former President Park Chung-hee. 

Park, 58, who has been locked in fierce rivalry with the president, has been meeting with pro-Lee members since a rare Aug. 21 one-on-one meeting with the president, whose support she will need in the future to become the party’s presidential candidate. 

Her in-party rival and Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo has been raising his profile by criticizing the Lee administration on several issues. 

Kim Moon-soo