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The
Dong-A Ilbo
January 27,
2004
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=050000&biid=2004012826368
New Trend for
General Election - Women Rule Over
By Sung-Won Park and Seung-Heon Lee
Kim Young-hwan, one of the
spokespersons for the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), drank a
bitter glass of soju (Korean wine) while watching a TV news footage
of former MBC news anchor Park Young-sun holding a press interview
when she joined the Uri Party on January 13.
It was because he regretted
that his efforts to persuade her to join his party, even making home
visits, were all in vain. However, the efforts put in by the Uri
Party to invite Ms. Park make a touching story as well.
Uri Party Leader Chung
Dong-young, also a former MBC anchor and senior to Park,
persistently persuaded Lawyer L, a close friend of his and also
Park���s husband, to invite her.
It was later revealed that
Party Head Chung visited Park���s home several times and urged her
saying, ���I connected you two people, so you have to pay back one
way or another even if you cannot present a suit for me.���
Public Nomination Judgment
Board Chairman Kim Moon-su of the Grand National Party (GNP) is in
process of persuading S, a women���s organization leader, to join
the party, making frequent visits.
S is also receiving love
calls from the MDP but has not given a clear answer to either of the
two parties.
In addition, Rep. Kim Sang-hyun
and Kim Kyung-jae, leading members of the MDP, accidentally heard a
woman researcher from an institute speak on a radio show and agreed
on ���bringing her in as a spokesperson��� since they were impressed
by her appealing voice. They promptly initiated contacting her but
did not hear back from her.
All the parties have
competitively pledged to allocate 50 percent of the proportional
representation seats to women, producing a phenomenon to search for
female candidates.
The need for a new face in
the male-dominated political world stained with corruption gives
rise to the trend as well.
However, some point out
that the love calls from the parties to influential personalities
are a bubble induced by a ���transitory demand surplus.���
The reality that most women
candidates avoid ���difficult��� running in the regional districts
reflects this opinion.
The GNP has finished the
first set of public nomination application process, and 27 women
have applied to run in the regional districts which takes only 3.7
percent of all applications.
The MDP and the Uri Party
also finished their application process with 4.5 percent (19
candidates) and 2.5 percent (13 candidates) respectively.
To a great extent, the
numbers fall short of the 30 percent nomination rate in the regional
district proposed at a gathering of influential women leaders held
at the National Assembly building.
���The party headquarters
are indiscriminately recruiting unqualified personalities rather
than well-prepared female political leaders to use them as
ornaments, and now court ladies, not even royal concubines, are
going all around the political arena,��� criticized a woman
representative in the GNP regarding the phenomenon.
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