South Korea's struggling ruling party changes name

Impeached Park cancels questioning over scandal

The embattled ruling party of South Korea's impeached President Park Geun-hye has picked a new name - Liberal Korea - officials said on Thursday, as it seeks to distance itself from a sprawling corruption scandal.

The Saenuri, or New Frontier, party was formed from a merger of several center-right parties in 1997 and known as the Grand National Party until 2012.

Elections were due this year and a spokesman said: "We've decided to change the party name to the Liberal Korea Party with a promise to be born anew."

Party leaders were scheduled to meet to approve the title on Monday, he added, when it will go into effect.

South Korean political parties have a tendency to don new names to sever ties with a tainted past or to appeal to larger audiences.

Park adopted the Saenuri name in 2012 as part of an attempt to reform and regain voter support ahead of that year's general elections, which the party won.

But a swirling corruption scandal has since surrounded Park, with huge demonstrations demanding her resignation, and she was impeached by parliament last month.

'Money Power Party'

The party initially favored "Conservatives' Power Party" for a new title, as recommended by its acting leader In Myung-jin.

But the moniker met with public ridicule in the light of the scandal, one online poster commenting: "You'd better call it Money Power Party."

Other alternatives were Happy Korea and the People First Party, potentially evoking US President Donald Trump's "America First" slogan.

Saenuri's parliamentary floor leader Chung Woo-taek said there had been disputes over using the word "conservative".

"But as everyone knows we are conservative, we decided not to put the word in the party name," he said.

Meanwhile, Park scrapped plans to let officials question her on Thursday because of anger over leaks to the media, prosecutors said.

The sudden rejection of what would have been the first prosecutorial questioning of a sitting president is the latest in a series of standoffs between her and prosecutors digging into her alleged involvement in the biggest political scandal in the country in decades.

The scandal saw millions take to the streets in protest and led to Park's December impeachment.