Bareun Party to elect new leader in November

The minor opposition Bareun Party will elect a new leader in November to fill the top post left vacant after its former chief resigned earlier this month over a graft scandal, its floor leader said Monday.

The party will hold a gathering of party representatives on Nov. 13 to elect a new leadership, Joo Ho-young, the conservative party’s floor leader, told reporters following a Supreme Council session.

On Sept. 7, former leader Lee Hye-hoon bowed out amid allegations that she received cash and gifts worth about 60 million won ($53,083) from a businesswoman over nearly a dozen occasions from October 2015 to March this year. Lee denies wrongdoing.

The scandal dealt a major blow to the party’s drive for “new, transparent and warm” conservatism to completely break from the conservative wing once affiliated with the corruption-tainted former President Park Geun-hye.

It also added fuel to growing discussions about the party’s possible merger or alliance with the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, from which it splintered amid a factional feud late last year.

Yonhap