Representative Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the governing Grand National Party, announces his resignation yesterday at party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. [YONHAP]

Succumbing to growing calls for his resignation, Representative Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the governing Grand National Party, announced yesterday he would step down to allow the troubled party to revamp itself under new leadership.

The resignation came just a day after he announced a series of major reform measures aimed at salvaging the sinking party, which were met with a chorus of criticism from reformist lawmakers within his own ranks who pressed for new leadership.

Hong’s departure could allow Representative Park Geun-hye, the former chairwoman and presidential contender, to fill the resulting power vacuum, though political observers said that it remained to be seen whether a Park leadership would help the ailing party and her Blue House ambitions.

Reading his resignation statement at a press conference held at GNP headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Hong struck an unapologetic tone but said he had concluded that he could no longer lead the party.

“I intended to resign after reforming the GNP in a way tantamount to creating a new party and cleaning house. However, as my pure intention was dismissed as my obsession with vested interests, I determined that it would be meaningless to continue standing in this position,” Hong said.

Many GNP members had become disenchanted with Hong, calling him too insensitive and inactive in the face of changing public sentiments in recent months that have put the party on the defensive, including October’s defeat in the Seoul mayoral by-election.

On Wednesday, three reform-minded members of the GNP’s Supreme Council, the party’s top decision-making body, quit their leadership posts, calling for the GNP’s dismantlement and Hong’s resignation.

It was a short stint for Hong, who was elected GNP chairman at the party’s national convention on July 4. His critics said his gaffes as well as his failure to respond to the swirling scandal over the cyberattack on the National Election Commission allegedly orchestrated by an aide to a GNP lawmaker accelerated Hong’s demise.

At the press conference, Hong took responsibility for a series of incidents that shook the party but also expressed regret that his actions and words were dismissed as being for his benefit.

He then called for the unity of the party. “There should be no more factional and power struggles,” Hong said. “Only when we muster power together can we win the legislative and presidential elections.”

Some political analysts, however, expected a power struggle within the party after Hong’s departure, with discussions taking place within the party of creating an emergency leadership committee under Park.

Park’s supporters say that she could wield strong leadership to resolve the party’s crisis, such as when the GNP, under Park’s helm, asked prosecutors to investigate a money-for-influence scandal involving two of its lawmakers in 2006. Hong, they say, missed the opportunity to take such pre-emptive measures to address the recent cyberattack scandal.

Hong’s departure could also pose a challenge to the Blue House as the new leadership could try to distance the party from the administration to counter criticism that the GNP acts as a rubber stamp for President Lee Myung-bak. Such a move could weaken Lee’s grip on power including over next year’s budget. On Thursday, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to a special session of the National Assembly next Monday to pass the budget.

“We hope the party will be quickly stabilized and use its strength to deal with pending issues that affect the public’s livelihood,” said Park Jeong-ha, Blue House spokesman.


By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]


한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]

취임 159일 만에 … MB 여당서 최단명 대표

사흘 버티다 물러난 홍준표

‘여백의 미’. 홍준표 한나라당 대표가 9일 오후 1시쯤 페이스북에 올린 글이다. 마음을 비웠다는 뜻이다. 그러곤 3시 기자회견에서 대표직 사퇴를 발표했다. 7일 유승민·원희룡·남경필 최고위원 세 명이 동반 사퇴하며 ‘퇴진’을 압박해도 버티던 홍 대표였으나 사흘 만에 백기를 들었다. 취임 159일 만으로, 이명박 정부의 여당 대표(박희태 1년2개월, 정몽준 9개월, 안상수 10개월) 가운데 최단명이다.

　페이스북에 ‘여백의 미’란 글을 올리기 전까진 분위기가 강경했다. 황우여 원내대표와 이주영 정책위의장, 김장수 최고위원 등이 홍 대표가 소집한 최고위원회를 ‘보이콧’ 하기로 했다는 소식이 알려졌지만 그는 아랑곳하지 않을 태세였다. 이날 오전 8시쯤 당사에 출근하다 기자들과 만난 그는 대표직을 유지한 채 자신의 쇄신 로드맵을 밀어붙이겠다는 뜻을 비쳤다. 전날 자신이 발표한 당 쇄신안은 최고위원들한테 미리 다 설명한 사항이라 최고위원회 의결이 필요 없고, 따라서 그들이 불참해도 개의치 않겠다는 얘기였다. ‘마지막 호기’였던 셈이다.

　하지만 오전 내내 측근인 김정권 사무총장이 ‘명예로운 퇴진’을 권하고, 박근혜계인 김장수 최고위원이 찾아와 “모두 백지상태로 버리자”고 촉구하면서 기류가 달라졌다. 결국 오전 11시쯤 홍 대표는 이범래 대표비서실장 등에게 “짐을 싸라”고 지시했다.

　그는 사퇴 회견에서 “무상급식 주민투표에 이은 서울시장 보궐선거, 디도스 사건 등 당을 혼돈으로 몰고 가는 악재가 연달아 터졌다”며 “모두 제 부덕의 소치”라고 했다. 그러면서 “더 이상 당내 계파투쟁, 권력투쟁은 없어야 한다. 모두 힘을 합쳐야만이 총선, 대선에서 승리할 수 있다 ”고 밝혔다. 홍 대표는 한 기자가 “박근혜 전 대표와 대표직 사퇴를 상의했느냐”고 묻자 자존심이 상한 듯 “나는 한나라당 대표입니다”라고 한 뒤 더 이상 질문을 받지 않았다. 이후 기자들에게 퇴임 인사를 하면서 “이제 시달림에서 해방됐다”고 했다. 트위터에는 “척당불기(倜<513B>不羈·뜻이 커 남에게 굽히지 않음), 이젠 자유인이 됐다”고 적었다.