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Tuesday August 21, 3:57 PMAsian editorial excerpts(Kyodo) _ Selected editorial excerpts from the Asia-Pacific press:PRIMARY VICTORY (The Korea Times, Seoul) Former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak emerged as the winner of the heated primary race of the opposition Grand National Party on Monday. Lee grabbed the party's ticket for the Dec. 19 presidential election, boosted by his upswing in public appeal. His victory ended the fiercest-ever primary race against his archrival and former party leader Park Geun-hye, which was marked by smearing campaigns. Lee, 66, has been enjoying a comfortable lead over Park in the race but the result appears to be somewhat perplexing for Lee as he won by a relatively slight margin of 2,452 votes. Park, 55, a daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee, was lauded for immediately accepting the election outcome. She pledged to join Lee in full-pledged campaigns for the December election. The primary race seems to have ended gracefully as the loser humbly acknowledged the result. Lee must bear in mind that his party has chosen on hopes that he will revive the economy by taking advantage of his success story as a CEO of companies such as Hyundai Engineering and Construction. We urge Lee to make more commitments to bridging the social divide that has widened since President Roh Moo-hyun took office in 2003. Roh has escalated the conflict to the extent of inviting an unprecedented presidential impeachment. It is required for Lee to become a broad-minded presidential candidate who can embrace all people, irrespective of ideological and regional differences. His solid lead in various opinion polls does not necessarily mean he will win the presidential election. The second inter-Korean summit scheduled for Oct. 2-4 will surely help the governing party take the offensive against the GNP as the meeting could influence the presidential election. Against this backdrop, what Lee needs most is to solidify party unity so that Park and her supporters can join forces in campaigning for him. (Aug. 21) |
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