Korean Party Proportional Representative "Merger by 29th" Conclusion... Urges Won Yu-cheol

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Starting from the 30th, the elected members of the Future Korea Party who will serve as proportional representatives in the 21st National Assembly have reached a consensus that "the merger with the United Future Party must be completed by the 29th" and conveyed this opinion to the party leadership.

The Future Korea Party proportional representatives held a breakfast meeting on the 21st and, after continuing discussions related to the merger, reached this conclusion. About 15 of the 19 elected members attended the meeting, including Representative Jeong Uncheon, who was known to hold the opinion that "there is no need to rush the merger." Opinions from the absent elected members were collected via phone calls.

Choi Seungjae, an elected member participating as the Future Korea Party representative in the joint task force with the United Future Party, said in a phone interview, "The elected members believe the merger must be completed by the 29th, and the overall opinion is that the task force should act swiftly and accurately to achieve this." He added, "We have also conveyed our opinion to the party leader." Meanwhile, Future Korea Party leader Won Yucheol maintains the stance that "there is no need to rush the merger."

Choi further stated, "There is some recognition that the official party opinion (Leader Won's remarks) differs from that of the elected members, and it is not desirable for it to be portrayed as if it represents the elected members' views."

He also expressed that if there is no concrete movement toward the merger before the party convention scheduled for the 26th, he cannot agree to an extension of the term.

Choi said, "We agreed to the extension of the term to complete the merger. If there is no result by the 26th and the extension only increases authority, it could be perceived as a refusal to merge, and the elected members are worried that the merger will actually stall."

He added, "If the task force does not present a concrete roadmap and activities for the merger by then, responsibility for that will inevitably be questioned at the party convention on the 26th. The creation of the task force was meant to take concrete merger actions, so why has there been no action? And the messages coming from the party leader seem to suggest that the merger will be done slowly, which naturally raises these questions."

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