Rally participants seeking the cancelation of the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye wave South Korean and U.S. flags in central Seoul on March 9, 2017, one day before the impeachment decision. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



By Park Ji-won



Struggling to gain public trust after the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, the largest opposition Liberty Korea Party's (LKP) move to welcome far-right voices into the party casts doubts over the effectiveness of the move.



Jun Won-tchack, who assumed a post with the LKP's reform committee last week, made it clear he will embrace the Taegeukgi protesters who carry out flag-waving rallies, meaning inviting those people to join the party.



"The Taegeukgi protesters are not extreme far rightists but eager supporters of former President Park Geun-hye," Jun said during a radio interview after his appointment to the committee last month. "I won't eliminate them from conservative forces."



The group is known to oppose the current government for being too supportive of North Korea, and advocate for Park and her father Park Chung-hee, claiming the two were good leaders and not guilty of any crimes. Those people are not led by a single organization but headed by about five, according to sources. They normally hold street protests in central Seoul ― Gwangwhamun and Seoul Station for example ― almost every week.



Criticism has arisen over their romanticizing of the rule of the impeached Park, who is in jail on corruption charges.



"The candlelit rallies at Gwanghwamun showed the characteristics of the citizens, while the Taegeukgi rallies showed those of subjects," Jun Tae-guk, an honorary professor at Kangwon University, has been quoted as saying.



"(The Taegeukgi rally) support Park Geun-hye's incompetent government without question. It is a pre-modern characteristic."



Tension rises between LKP members



Tension between LKP lawmakers over the acceptance of the protesters into the party has escalated as members divide into factions showing signs of a leadership battle.





Kim Byoung-joon, center, interim leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, speaks during a reform committee meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap