United Future Party Winners Gather to Discuss 'Party Innovation and Merger'... Joo Ho-young Also Meets Kim Jong-in

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, is attending the elected members' workshop held at the National Assembly on the 21st and delivering a greeting./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Lim Chun-han] The elected members of the United Future Party are coming together to discuss the reasons for their defeat in the general election and the party's leadership structure. Amid various opinions emerging within the party regarding the term of the 'Kim Jong-in Emergency Response Committee (ERC),' newly appointed floor leader Joo Ho-young also met with former general election committee chairman Kim Jong-in, making the transition to the ERC increasingly visible.

At the United Future Party elected members' workshop held at the National Assembly main building on the 21st, Floor Leader Joo said, "This will be an important workshop to determine the party's direction," adding, "The analysis and evaluation of the 21st general election, the integration issue with the Future Korea Party, party innovation plans, and the formation of the leadership structure should all be finalized and discussed within today or tomorrow." He also urged, "Once the (leadership structure) is decided, even those with opposing views should willingly support it."

Starting today, 84 constituency-elected members will listen in the morning to presentations on diagnosing the general election defeat by Jang Kyung-sang, Secretary General of the National Management Research Institute, Park Sung-min, head of Political Consulting Min, and elected member Park Soo-young. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., they will engage in a three-hour intensive discussion on party innovation measures. The topics of discussion include ▲establishing a party strategy control tower ▲targeting the centrist voter base ▲and walking together with the younger generation.

Discussions on the party leadership structure will take place on the 22nd. Along with the decision on transitioning to the 'Kim Jong-in ERC,' a final debate on the term of the ERC is expected. Within the party, opinions vary widely?from those who say "the shorter the ERC term, the better," advocating to limit the term to the end of August as stipulated in the existing party constitution and regulations, to those who argue for extending the term until the end of this year or from February to April next year.

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, is attending the elected members' workshop held at the National Assembly on the 21st and delivering a greeting./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

However, the year-end term proposal is considered practically difficult due to the regular party convention schedule overlapping with the regular National Assembly session, making the option to extend the term until next year more likely. The issue is the by-elections in April next year. Even if the elected members agree at the workshop to extend the term until next year, if the decision is made around February when the nomination rights do not revert to former chairman Kim, his side may not accept it.

In this regard, it is known that Floor Leader Joo met with former chairman Kim on the 17th to discuss the term issue. Although the visit was a courtesy call in response to Kim expressing condolences over Joo's father's passing, it is expected that broad discussions about transitioning to the ERC took place after the workshop.

The issue of merging with the Future Korea Party will also be discussed at the workshop. On the 14th, the Korea Party had resolved to expedite the merger, but as it continued independent actions such as extending the party leader's term, concerns have arisen that integration within the 20th National Assembly may become difficult. The Korea Party maintains the official stance that "integration by the 29th is the principle," but behind the scenes, it is urging a delay in the merger. On the 20th, at the National Assembly plenary session, a camera captured Korea Party lawmaker Jung Woon-cheon sending a text message to United Future Party lawmaker Kim Moo-sung stating, "Moving according to the enemy's orders is a foolish choice. Merging immediately is an admission that the Korea Party is not honorable."

The United Future Party formed only a partial vice-chairman group in consideration of the merger. Floor Leader Joo said, "The party regulations state that the vice-chairman group should be composed of no more than 15 members, but anticipating the merger, we left 4 seats vacant and appointed 11 members as vice-chairmen."

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