Democratic Party Pushes Alliance with 'Chinmun' Platform Party... Growing Concerns over 'Satellite Parties'

Lee In-young, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the joint meeting between the floor leaders and standing committee secretaries held at the National Assembly on the 17th, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Democratic Party of Korea is joining forces with the coalition platform party 'For the Citizens'. This decision was made because the platform integration with another 'Political Reform Coalition' composed of civil society figures did not materialize. However, since minority parties such as the Green Party and the Mirae Party have criticized the Democratic Party-led coalition party initiative, controversy is expected.

The Democratic Party announced on the 17th that it signed a proportional representation coalition party agreement with 'For the Citizens' along with the Basic Income Party, Transition Korea, Let's Go Peace Party, and Peace and Human Rights Party in the first round. 'For the Citizens' includes members of the Reform National Movement Headquarters who supported former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and advocated for prosecutorial reform at last year's 'Seocho-dong rally'.

They explained, "We have continuously requested and persuaded the two platforms to integrate. However, as integration ultimately failed and the schedule for promoting the coalition party became too tight to delay any further, we reluctantly decided to join the 'For the Citizens' platform."

The Democratic Party also stated, "Considering the very tight schedule for registering proportional candidates, we judged that 'For the Citizens' is the only platform that has completed party registration and received a party certificate, making it possible to promote the proportional party quickly and orderly."

Regarding the possibility of integration with the Political Reform Coalition, the Green Party, and the Mirae Party, they plan to keep the door open for joining until the end of this week.

Through the agreement, the Democratic Party and others signed commitments such as "The Democratic Party will help minority parties enter the National Assembly by giving priority positions to candidates recommended by minority parties," "Jointly respond with participating parties against conservative opposition parties' attempts to regress reform bills such as the independence of prosecution and police investigation rights and the Corruption Investigation Office Act, and against unfair impeachment efforts," and "Work together to realize the spirit of the candlelight protests by eradicating deep-rooted evils and implementing democratic and reformist values."

They also agreed on major principles such as compliance with proportional representation candidate selection criteria, registering candidates under a single party name, and seat allocation through reasonable consultation.

The Political Reform Coalition, the Green Party, and the Mirae Party have expressed that they cannot participate if the coalition is pursued as a satellite party led by the Democratic Party.

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