MDP insiders plot; Jeju yawns

JEJU － A woman in her mid-30s came to the city chapter of the Millennium Democratic Party in Jeju and applied to join the party. She is a daughter of a policy-maker in the entourage of a presidential candidate hopeful. "All local party chapters in Jeju are receiving dozens of phone calls every day inquiring about joining the party," said an MDP official. "About 10 persons a day come to each office in person, but most of them are allied with candidates. It seems like a organized movement to join the party has been initiated."

The island province of Jeju, home to 540,000 persons and only 1 percent of the electoral college, is seized with election fever. The island will be the Korean equivalent of New Hampshire in the United States - the site of the first presidential primary election.

At the epicenter of the fever are Millennium Democratic Party organizers working for the announced and to-be-announced candidates. The candidates themselves are spending a lot of time there to woo new party members and do some campaigning. Although the feeling has not been tested in practice, there is a general sense that Jeju will be a bellwether of national sentiment.

Rep. Chung Dong-young, MDP, declared his candidacy in Jeju on Wednesday. At a press conference, he said "I will be a CEO-style president who consider the people his customers."

Rep. Rhee In-je, another MDP hopeful, will visit Jeju province Monday. Noh Mu-hyun will open his campaign in early February; Representatives Hahn Hwa-kap and Kim Keun-tae have already visited the island.

Private sponsorship organizations of the candidate hopefuls in the ruling party are expanding their memberships because supporters likely will join the party caucus for the primary - the most important chance to secure their votes in the primary.

Despite the candidates' frenzy, local residents seem indifferent. Only 4 of 10 persons asked about the primary election in central Jeju knew about the election.

"The primary election system seems like a political show only for party members," said the owner of an Internet travel company in Jeju.

by Kang Min-seok