S. Korea's ruling party in hot water over hacking scandal

South Korea's ruling party was probably going to put the tumultuous year punctuated by a series of election defeats behind it and focus on rejuvenating itself ahead of key polls next year. Fat chance. With allegations of the party's involvement in a cyber attack on an election watchdog's website and the subsequent resignation Wednesday of three of its senior leaders, things have gone from bad to abysmal. DISGRUNTLED REFORMISTS Three of the ruling party's Supreme Council members -- Won Hee- ryong, Yoo Seong-min and Nam Kyung-pil -- announced their resignation earlier Wednesday, voicing discontent over the party's failure to shed its image as a party for the haves. "(The party) needs thorough self-reflection and efforts to dismantle the vested interests," Won, a three-term lawmaker, said as he announced his exit during a press conference. "I myself have become a subject of reform." The move is a blow to the conservative governing party, whose election post-mortem findings show its dismal popularity among young voters just as its liberal rivals are forming a united front to prevail in the upcoming elections. Speculations about the party's future are running wild, with some calling for a new splinter party and others demanding the ruling party disband itself. Observers say the crisis might even bring former chairwoman Park Geun-hye back at the helm of the beleaguered party, as the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee remains the strongest contender for the 2012 presidential election. She is also credited with reviving the party in 2004, when its offices were moved into a set of tents in a bid to restore the party's reputation tarnished by corruption scandals. Critics derided the move as a political stunt, but it did work. Still, ruling party chief Hong Joon-pyo intends to keep the job for now. "We do have a roadmap and alternative plans to refashion the party," he said during a press conference, adding stepping down at this point will be irresponsible. CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACY For the three ruling party reformists, emerging allegations of the party's role behind a cyber attack on the National Election Commission's website on the day of by-elections in October was the last straw. Police arrested a 27-year-old aide to Choi Ku-sik of the Grand National Party and three other web administrators suspected of having orchestrated a major distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that shut down the website for two hours on Oct. 26. Choi has denied his involvement, pledging to step down if found responsible. Many believe the hacking was aimed at preventing younger voters from locating polling stations and thus helping the governing party, widely unpopular among young people, win the crucial Seoul mayoral race. The alleged rigging attempt was a failure anyway. The Grand National Party suffered an embarrassing defeat by an independent candidate backed by the liberal opposition. Fearing the defeat's impact on parliamentary and presidential elections next year, the party has taken pains to distance itself from the hacking incident. "We urge the police to thoroughly investigate the incident, and promise we will actively cooperate with investigators if necessary," ruling party leader Hong said in a radio speech Tuesday. The opposition is still not convinced. "Nobody would believe that a low-ranking aide was solely responsible for a major criminal offense," main opposition Democratic Party chief Sohn Hak-kyu said at a meeting with senior party leaders Wednesday. The Democrats are calling for a special parliamentary probe into the incident, which they say directly challenged the country's democratic foundation. The three exiting lawmakers seemed to agree. "I don't believe the attack was a solo act by the aide," Won Hee-ryong said during the press conference. "If the police conclude otherwise, people would question (the fairness of the investigation) even more and things would get out of control."