Political Reform Alliance: "Democratic Party Must Apologize, Replace and Discipline Director Yang Jeong-cheol"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Political Reform Alliance, which is promoting a proportional representation coalition party, has demanded an apology from the Democratic Party of Korea along with the replacement and disciplinary action of Yang Jeong-cheol, head of the Democratic Research Institute. They also announced plans for legal action, claiming they have been slandered. This is a backlash against the Democratic Party joining hands with the 'For the Citizens' platform party, led by the 'pro-Moon' faction, moving towards a 'satellite party.'

On the 18th, the Political Reform Alliance held a press conference stating, "The actions shown by the Democratic Party until yesterday fundamentally undermined the purpose of the election coalition."

They politely requested that the Democratic Party leadership diagnose the current process, apologize, and present improvement measures. In particular, they demanded, "Immediately replace Yang Jeong-cheol, who is leading this entire process, as the negotiation representative for the election coalition party and discipline him." They explained, "The Democratic Party leadership must not neglect the fact that some Democratic Party figures have slandered senior and civil society figures who have been promoting the election coalition party with pure intentions, causing the coalition party to be in crisis."

Ha Seung-su, executive committee member of the Political Reform Alliance, appeared on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' on the same day and claimed, “After the Democratic Party’s all-member vote on the 13th, Yang Jeong-cheol called me saying he was 'delegated negotiation rights' and contacted me, but he kept setting very one-sided deadlines and making statements like 'We must unify by a certain time, or else we will have no choice but to make our own decision.'”

The Political Reform Alliance also stated that they have repeatedly announced that they would dissolve the party and return to civil society after the general election, but claimed that the Democratic Party side kept leaking to the media that “the Political Reform Alliance intends to become an independent party” and “is demanding shares.”

The Political Reform Alliance said, "We will organize cases of false information dissemination and proceed with legal action. We will file mediation requests with the Korea Press Arbitration Commission and consider stronger measures against reports or statements that slander the Political Reform Alliance without basis."

Nevertheless, they left the door open for negotiation. The Political Reform Alliance emphasized, "Despite boundless disappointment and anger, we are willing to participate in any discussions for the success of the election coalition party. The Democratic Party leadership must promptly provide a responsible response to our requests," adding, "We only hope to prevent the election coalition party from becoming a satellite party of the Democratic Party, so that the coalition party can stand before the people without shame, uphold principles, and proceed accordingly."

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