Democratic Party Proposes Alliance Party Participation to Justice Party… Sim Sang-jung Refuses, "No Intention to Discuss Again"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea, which declared participation in the proportional representation alliance party, officially proposed cooperation to the Justice Party on the 13th. Shim Sang-jung, leader of the Justice Party, once again rejected the offer, saying, "I have no intention to discuss it again."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Yoon Ho-jung, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, visited Shim's office in the National Assembly Members' Office Building and held a meeting for about 30 minutes. Yoon told Shim, "We will not undermine the basic purpose of expanding opportunities for minor parties to enter the parliament," and added, "We are also considering placing our party's proportional candidates in lower priority positions within the electable range."

It is also known that Yoon proposed that if the Justice Party participates in the alliance party, the Democratic Party would guarantee them more seats than they could otherwise receive.

Shim responded by saying, "The Justice Party will firmly continue on the path of political reform so that the name of the Justice Party does not disappear from the ballot paper in this 21st general election," rejecting the Democratic Party's proposal. She criticized the Democratic Party's decision to join the proportional alliance party as "very disappointing from the standpoint of those who have worked together for political reform."

She predicted, "The general election will be fought as a confrontation between satellite parties of the two major parties, which will be a great ordeal for the Justice Party," but emphasized, "The Justice Party was born to change politics, and even if it is difficult, we will steadfastly and resolutely continue on this path of political reform."

She added, "Please fully respect the Justice Party's decision," indicating that there is no intention to revisit this decision.

The Democratic Party also proposed participation in the alliance party to the Minsheng Party. Song Gap-seok, spokesperson for the Democratic Party's election committee, stated, "Yesterday, we conveyed to Park Joo-hyun, co-leader of the Minsheng Party, that it would be good to join together."

However, Kim Jeong-hwa, co-leader of the Minsheng Party, caused controversy by saying about Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan's letter, "I don't know why they are bringing spam mail." Yoon canceled the scheduled meeting with the Minsheng Party, saying, "It is difficult to do politics with someone who needs to learn manners first."

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