"Returning to a New Future Before Integration"
"They Tried to Stigmatize and Exclude," Criticism of Lee Jun-seok
On the 20th, Saeroun Mirae officially announced the withdrawal of its merger with the Reform New Party. This marks a collapse just 11 days after the four third-zone forces (Reform New Party, Saeroun Mirae, Saeroun Seontaek, and Principle and Common Sense) formed a big tent.
Lee Nak-yeon, co-representative of the Reform New Party, held a press conference on the morning of the same day at the Saeroun Mirae central party meeting room in Yeouido, Seoul, stating, "We have no choice but to return to the previous stage of integration," and added, "We will return to Saeroun Mirae."
Lee emphasized, "The agreement of February 9 was broken, and the agenda to grant full election authority to one co-representative was forcibly passed by a vote of the Supreme Council," adding, "This should not have been subject to a Supreme Council vote, and the spirit of democracy has been damaged." He also pointed out, "They tried to stigmatize and exclude a specific person from the start."
Lee Nak-yeon directly cited Lee Jun-seok, co-representative of the Reform New Party, and his 'partisan behavior' as the immediate reason for withdrawing from the merger. The Reform New Party held a Supreme Council meeting the day before and passed by majority vote the agenda to delegate 'election campaign and policy decision authority' to Lee Jun-seok. Saeroun Mirae claims this breaks the agreement made on the 9th to grant Lee Nak-yeon the position of overall election committee chairman at the time of integration.
Lee Nak-yeon, co-representative of the New Future, is speaking at the Responsibility Committee meeting held at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 5th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
Lee emphasized that he will return to Saeroun Mirae to reorganize the party and transition to an election system. He stated, "We will break the monopolistic political structure of the incompetent and corrupt two major parties and create a genuine alternative party that prioritizes the nation over factions and the people over politicians," adding, "We will not imitate the confrontational politics of vested interest parties but prepare a new future for the Republic of Korea."
He also said, "We will establish a 'real Democratic Party' to replace the Democratic Party, which has been crushed by moral and legal issues and has fallen to a one-person party, making both regime checks and regime change difficult," and added, "We will transform the political arena, rife with lies and collusion, into a place where honesty and common sense prevail."
On the same day, with Kim Jong-min, a Supreme Council member of the Reform New Party affiliated with Saeroun Mirae, leaving the party, the Reform New Party’s number of incumbent National Assembly members will be reduced to four. However, even if Kim Jong-min leaves the Reform New Party, there is no legal effect to reclaim the approximately 600 million won in subsidies previously received. Lee Jun-seok emphasized, "If a member leaves and the number of seats falls below five, the Reform New Party will return all the government subsidies already paid."
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