Conservative Forces Take 'Bold Step' to Prepare Unified New Party... Controversies Grow Louder (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Innovation Integration Promotion Committee (IIPC), which is pushing for centrist-conservative unification, will hold its first public report meeting on the 31st and reveal the initial framework of the conservative unified new party. However, skepticism about grand unification has emerged even within the Liberty Korea Party, leading to speculation about a 'medium-small unification.'

On the same day, the IIPC held its first public report meeting at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in the afternoon, attended by 500 party and civic organization officials including Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Liberty Korea Party; Ha Tae-kyung, co-leader of the New Conservative Party; Lee Un-ju, leader of the Forward to the Future 4.0 Party; Jang Ki-pyo, preparatory committee chairman of the People's Voice Party; former Minister of Science and Technology Kim Young-hwan; former Liberty Korea Party emergency committee chairman Kim Byung-joon; and former Bareunmirae Party Supreme Council member Moon Byung-ho. They reported on the progress of centrist-conservative unification so far.

In addition, centrist reform-minded figures such as former lawmakers Kim Young-hwan and Jung Tae-geun, Kyungpook National University professor Kim Hyung-ki, KAIST professor Lee Byung-tae, Regional Equality Civic Solidarity representative Joo Dong-sik, co-leader of the 21st Century Future Education Alliance Jo Hyung-gon, and lawyer Jung Jin-kyung joined. The coalition also includes the Pan-Civic Society Alliance composed of 253 organizations, the Pan-Conservative Alliance of 95 organizations, six nuclear-related organizations, eleven youth organizations, and the National Council for the Restoration of National Identity with 108 organizations. Park Hyung-joon, chairman of the Innovation Integration Committee, stated, "The IIPC was launched as the sole force for pan-centrist-conservative unification, carrying the people's wish to judge the Moon Jae-in administration." After the report meeting, the IIPC plans to start forming the party preparatory committee from the 1st of next month and accelerate efforts toward the unified new party.

However, noise surrounding the unified new party is growing louder. On the morning of the same day, the New Conservative Party announced its nomination schedule and declared a full transition to the general election preparation system. Specifically, from the 5th of next month, they will form the Central Party Nomination Management Committee and the Nomination Monitoring Youth Committee, appoint the nomination committee chairman and complete the nomination review within the month, and finish all candidate nominations through intra-party primaries by early March. This indicates they plan to proceed with nominations independently, separate from the unified new party. The IIPC maintains that this is 'unavoidable due to the election schedule,' but since Yoo Seung-min, chairman of the Conservative Reconstruction Committee, did not attend the IIPC's first report meeting and no party consensus on 'electoral alliance' has been reached, this is interpreted as considering an independent course of action.

Within the Liberty Korea Party, skepticism about the big tent theory is also emerging. On the morning of the same day, Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Kim Young-woo appeared on tbs radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' and said, "The (unification) speed is very slow," adding, "It is possible that instead of a grand conservative unification, it will be a medium or small unification." Former Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo has teamed up with Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon to launch a conservative new party, and with little time left, he believes grand unification is physically difficult. Former Bareunmirae Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo is also showing signs of forming an independent new party, making centrist unification uncertain. He forecasted, "It will be somewhat difficult for all parties to gather and form a complete new party with leadership through a new party convention."

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