A conflict between ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung and senior party members affiliated with President Park Geun-hye is escalating, casting a cloud over the party's preparations for the general election on April 13.
Kim is under siege from pro-Park lawmakers, including Rep. Suh Chung-won, a member of the party's decision-making Supreme Council, after he openly criticized Park, Tuesday, over the current deadlock at the National Assembly.
While speaking at a forum, Kim said a "person in power" exerted influence on fellow lawmakers to pass a revision bill in 2012 to toughen rules for parliamentary votes on contentious bills, referring to President Park, who served as the leader of the ruling party at the time. The party is now pushing for a revision again to ease requirements for Assembly votes because it sees the toughened rules as the root cause of the current impasse.
