Park Hyung-jun "United Party Discussing Full Review of Future Korea Party Nomination Screening"

Park Hyung-jun, Chairman of the Integrated New Party Promotion Committee. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The United Future Party announced that it is discussing various measures, including a complete review of the candidate screening plan related to the nomination screening of its sister party, the Future Korea Party.

Park Hyung-joon, co-chairman of the United Future Party's joint election committee, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" on the 18th and said, "One way could be to resolve the issue by adjusting some candidates, and if there continues to be discord on that matter, the United Future Party is also considering a fundamental review in principle."

This comes after voices of opposition arose within the United Future Party when talents from the party were pushed down to lower ranks beyond the 20th position on the proportional representation list announced by the Future Korea Party. The Future Korea Party held a supreme council meeting that morning to discuss whether to reconsider the nomination list. Regarding the Future Korea Party's nomination results, Park said, "For example, if you create a company and even provide personnel, but the subsidiary makes investment decisions without listening to the parent company's opinion at all, that is not in line with political ethics," adding, "From the United Future Party's standpoint, even if we cannot directly nominate candidates, we have opinions regarding the nature of the nominations or the individuals involved."

Park added, "It seems there is a lack of fundamental principles," and said, "There is variability, including ways to negotiate, and adjustment is the smoothest method, but I don't know how well it will work."

Regarding former Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo and former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Tae-ho, prominent figures of the party, declaring independent candidacies, Park said, "I think the spirit of putting the party first and personal matters later should be the attitude of all United Future Party candidates and those who were eliminated in the nomination process," and added, "This time, unlike past conservative party nominations, the big framework has changed, so it can be called an innovative nomination, free from secret nominations, conservative nominations, or factional nominations."

Former leader Hong and former governor Kim have stated they will rejoin the party after winning. Park said, "This is something independent candidates have always said," and added, "It is not easy to talk about rejoining now, and I believe voters will make wise judgments."

Regarding United Future Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn trailing by a large margin behind ruling party candidate and former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon in the Jongno election, Park said, "In the 2016 National Assembly election, when current Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun first ran in Jongno, he was trailing candidate Oh Se-hoon by 17%. After the election, Prime Minister Chung said something to the effect of 'You shouldn't trust polls or be swayed by them,'" adding, "Polls are to observe trends, and a somewhat large percentage difference is not an insurmountable gap."

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