The Ides of 3ì›”
So why is Lee Myung Bak is avoiding ideological fights with the left? Probably because he’s concentrating his energy on purging his own party of political enemies, including supporters of Park Geun-Hye.
The Grand National Party has as expected eliminated a large number of its 62 incumbent lawmakers from the Gyeongsang Provinces, the party’s political heartland, in the selection of candidates for the general election next month. Twenty-five lawmakers or 43.5 percent were eliminated, the largest number in the party’s history. [Chosun Ilbo]
Give credit where it’s due — the Korean right certainly is showing more efficiency at dealing with splittists than the far left is at dealing with North Korean sympathizers and convicted spies.
Update: No sooner do I mention the troubles in the Democratic Labor Party than I see they’ve formally split. The faction that wasn’t a North Korean front is now called the New Progressive Party. The main left opposition United Democratic Party — which had recently absorbed the Democratic Party — is purging its ranks, too.