Park Hyung-jun "Concerns of Conflict with Innovation Committee if Party-to-Party Consultative Body is Formed"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Park Hyung-joon, chairman of the Innovation Integration Promotion Committee (IIPC), which is leading discussions on centrist-conservative integration, expressed concerns about potential conflicts with the IIPC regarding the New Conservative Party's demand for a party-to-party consultative body.

On the 20th, immediately after the IIPC's 5th meeting, Chairman Park told reporters, "Integration is not only between the New Conservative Party and the Liberty Korea Party but is proceeding within a broader framework." Earlier, the New Conservative Party had demanded that the Liberty Korea Party agree to form a party-to-party integration consultative body and stated that if this demand was not accepted, they would withdraw from the integration discussions.

Chairman Park said, "What the IIPC members are worried about is that if a formal consultative body is created, there might be role conflicts or clashes with the IIPC," adding, "We do not oppose any form of consultation between parties."

Regarding Rep. Ji Sang-wook, who represents the New Conservative Party in the integration talks and resigned from the IIPC in protest against Chairman Park, Park said, "Rep. Ji's situation is more of a personal decision than a party-level one," and added, "This afternoon, the New Conservative Party plans to hold a meeting to discuss new members participating in the IIPC."

On former People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo's statement that he is not interested in conservative integration talks, Park said, "We will observe how former leader Ahn's political moves unfold," leaving room for possibility.

Meanwhile, the IIPC held its 5th meeting on the same day to discuss cultural innovation in conservative parties and reform tasks for the integrated new party. It pointed out four major problems in the existing conservative party culture: ▲vertical authoritarian culture ▲lack of empathy ▲absence of openness ▲lack of a well-being party and noblesse oblige. To create an attractive centrist-conservative integrated new party, the committee emphasized the need for ▲building a youth party ecosystem ▲separating party positions from National Assembly seats ▲establishing new ethical guidelines and a regular evaluation system ▲renouncing National Assembly privileges ▲institutionalizing a blockchain-style discussion culture.

In particular, there is a plan to build a youth party ecosystem to recruit young talent. Chairman Park said, "In the past, young talent was used like disposable goods, but I believe this blocks the party's future, so we prepared a youth program," adding, "Whether through education, various policy development, or new election participation, we will independently build an ecosystem for young talent to be active." Specifically, it was agreed to have youth programs operated by young people themselves with mandatory budget allocation and to implement a youth mandatory nomination system for local councilors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.