[EDITORIALS]GNP must consider its future

The Grand National Party finally seems to have reached the beginning of the end to its internal strife. Party Chairman Choe Byung-yul announced his decision to step down, even though he had been elected by some 130,000 party members and his term has only just begun.
Mr. Choe also announced that he would remain in the party as a non-executive while expressing his concern about a “collapse of a healthy conservative force.”
It must have been a bitter decision for Mr. Choe and his supporters. However, the party would have suffered more had Mr. Choe not bowed to the pressure for his resignation. It was, all in all, a wise decision.
Should the Grand National Party sink, the party would not be the only one to suffer.
For the balanced progress of a country, we need open and healthy conservatism as well as rational progressivism. This is how we can see our system of political parties flourish.
We were worried that the Grand National Party might disintegrate, but finally, the party has found an opportunity to talk about the future and not the past.
This is the last chance for it to revive. The members of the party should consider very carefully and think deeply about how they are going to choose their next leader.
There are, however, some elements of instability still left in the party.
There are signs of a dispute over the exact time of Mr. Choe’s resignation, and there is the possibility of a factional fight over the evaluation process for the publicly nominated candidates.
If the party members do indeed engage in such internal disputes again, the party would draw public resentment and ultimately meet its end.
The Grand National Party should take this opportunity to conclude the issue of corruption, which began the dispute over Mr. Choe’s leadership, and to think about the party’s future.
The party should verify its beliefs in a free democracy and the market economy and be reborn as a policy-based party. It also falls upon the Grand National Party to say no to pandering and to consider the country’s future, rather than its immediate popularity with voters.