Launch of civic group a move toward reentry of political scene
Goh Kun, former prime minister and a strong condender for the next presidency, yesterday launched a civic group, Hope Solidarity, in a move seen as paving the way for his candidacy. With the launch of the organization, Goh, who served twice as premier and twice as Seoul mayor, hopes to come to the fore of the political scene to win people’s minds, after a period of being relatively absent from the political scene. At the launching ceremony of Hope Solidarity, Goh criticized both the current government and politicians and stressed a necessity to reform "broken politics." "Current politics stick to the past instead of looking at the future, and politicians are absorbed in dividing the public into factions," Kun said. He stressed that "the political camp disregarded the public’s demand to care for public livelihood and turned deaf ears to the people’s hope of not seeing the nation’s foundation shaken. Such a situation should stop here."Regarding the so-called ’Sea Story’ adult gaming industry scandal, he also denounced the "disappearance of public livelihood." He censured the government, saying, "If the government had a will to take care of public livelihood, gambling games would not have spread like this, and the government would not have employed [a policy of approving the games] that made people unhappy." Concerning the new organization, Goh said, "Hope Solidarity has been established as a civic group. I am considering setting up a separate organization that will be more likely be political." His remarks mean that the Hope Solidarity will be a kind of ’stepping stone’ to pave the way for his presidential candidacy prior to entering the political world full force. About 1,000 supporters, including 106 promoters from various walks of life, participated in the one-hour launching ceremony. Participants heightened the politics-tinged atmosphere by shouting, "Goh Kun!" Other figures with political backgrounds were excluded from the ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, the former premier visited historic sites in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province related to the life of Jeong Yak-yong, a scholar at the end of the Choson Dynasty, in an effort to emphasize his vision to pursue Jeong’s ’pragmatic reforms.’ After touring, Goh said, "Current politics continue with time-consuming arguments. I will search for a new direction of political development based on [Jeong Yak-yong’s] pragmatic reforms." Goh remarked that he would take steps to take care of public livelihood. "I will look at a diversity of public livelihood [need] based on pragmatic reforms." He said he would visit places where public livelihood is in question following more immediate issues, such as visiting farmers who face challenges due to the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in the works. Goh faces a rough road ahead. His biggest task is how he can overcome the limitation of being the ’third candidate,’ one who is not affiliated with a political party. The nation has never seen a ’third candidate’ win an election. Goh said, "Since the end of last year, people who agree with pragmatic, mid-course reforms have raised the necessity of forming a solidarity bloc. I will work toward holding more activities to strengthen these ties among citizens." Is remains unclear, however, how Kun’s ’middle-of-the-road policy’ will win people’s minds and secure his position in the political world.
