Hyuktongwi Pressures Saebosu Party Ahead of Reporting Meeting: "Participate at the Party Level"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Innovation Integration Promotion Committee (IIPC), which is pushing for centrist-conservative integration, pressured the New Conservative Party to participate in the first public report meeting scheduled for the 31st at the party level. This comes as the New Conservative Party has not shown an active attitude toward integration, keeping the possibility of an 'electoral alliance' open.

On the 30th, Park Hyung-jun, chairman of the IIPC, appeared on KBS Radio's "Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs" and said, "The New Conservative Party will participate in tomorrow's public report meeting, but from our side, we hope they decide by today to participate as a party if possible." Earlier, Chairman Park rejected the New Conservative Party's discussion of an electoral alliance as inconsistent with principles and requested that they participate in integration at the party level.

He emphasized, "Among the three principles presented by Yoo Seung-min, chairman of the Conservative Reconstruction Committee, the last was 'Let's build a new house,' and based on that principle, we have been conducting IIPC activities. An electoral alliance is not as easy as it seems, and to truly realize the meaning of integration, we must move toward a unified new party. That has been our consistent principle."

Earlier, on the 28th, Chairman Yoo met with reporters at the Blue House and suggested the possibility of an electoral alliance, saying, "On the progressive side, electoral alliances or candidate unifications have been common, and I think electoral alliances and candidate unifications are naturally options included in the integration plan." This was the second time he raised the electoral alliance theory since mentioning it during a visit to a military base in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, on the 22nd ahead of the Lunar New Year. The idea is to hold separate elections and then reunite afterward, which contradicts the direction of the IIPC, which is gathering not only conservatives but also centrist forces. The day before, the IIPC confirmed the joining of former lawmakers Moon Byung-ho and Kim Young-hwan, who are classified as former Ahn Cheol-soo faction members, and in the afternoon meeting, a declaration of support participation from key executives of the Korean Federation of Trade Unions and about 350 NGO organizations is expected.

The IIPC plans to gather these groups and hold a public report meeting on the 31st, then immediately form a preparatory committee for the new party's founding. If the New Conservative Party does not attend, the integration plan is likely to be disrupted. Analysts suggest that the New Conservative Party's ambiguous stance is due to considerations of candidate nomination negotiations with the Liberty Korea Party. Attention is also focused on whether Chairman Yoo and Liberty Korea Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn will hold a decisive meeting on integration issues, following their failed meeting before the Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, apart from the integration movement within the conservative camp, there are critical voices as 'scatter and gather' style movements become prominent. On the 29th, Kim Moo-sung, a Liberty Korea Party lawmaker, said at a joint meeting of supreme council members and senior lawmakers, "This is not the time to be preoccupied with securing individual interests in the right-wing and conservative integration to stop the reckless actions of the Moon Jae-in administration that is ruining the country," adding, "The public is watching who is leading the right-wing and conservative integration and who is obstructing it." This statement is analyzed as targeting not only former Governor Kim Moon-soo, who recently declared the founding of a new party, but also Chairman Yoo, who mentioned electoral alliances.

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