The United Future Party Leadership to Visit 5·18 Memorial Next Week... Also to Release a Public Message

New Core Policies on Party Platform and Policy Development... Likely to Include Four-Term Re-election Limit

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The leadership of the United Future Party, which has recently launched a campaign targeting the Honam region, will pay respects at the Gwangju 5.18 Democratic Cemetery next week.

According to Bae Jun-young, spokesperson for the United Future Party, Kim Jong-in, the party's emergency committee chairman, and Joo Ho-young, the floor leader, plan to visit the 5.18 Democratic Cemetery on the 19th and then issue a separate message to the public. Prior to this, the party received the final draft prepared by the party platform and policy special committee, which included the 'Spirit of the 5.18 Democratic Movement' in the new platform draft. Additionally, a National Unity Committee will be established directly under the emergency committee chairman.

The proposal reported to the emergency committee by the special committee on the 20th of last month explicitly mentioned the 5.18 Democratic Movement. This proposal included the spirit of the democratization movement that continued from the establishment of the government through the Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan administrations, including the 5.18 Democratic Movement. The party platform and policy enacted in February did not contain any sections related to the democratization movement.

Besides this, the United Future Party has prepared ten core policy areas to be included in the new platform and policy. Notably, the 'four-term limit for members of the National Assembly,' which has attracted political attention, is reportedly included in the draft. The proposal created by the platform and policy revision special committee will be reported to the emergency committee meeting on the 13th, followed by a party members' meeting and a national committee meeting before final confirmation.

Kim Byung-min, chairman of the special committee, told reporters after the final debate on the 10th, regarding the four-term limit, "As Chairman Kim Jong-in mentioned, we seriously discussed whether this should be included in the platform and policy. If linked to nomination issues, it would be included in the party constitution and regulations, but from the perspective of political reform and National Assembly reform, it is much more important to promote political reform in the National Assembly by changing laws. We will announce this soon in that context."

The special committee presented detailed tasks in ten areas: ▲government and political reform ▲judicial reform ▲opportunity fairness ▲future economic innovation ▲economic democratization and resolution of social polarization ▲gender equality ▲labor ▲environment ▲welfare ▲diplomacy and security. In the political reform area, the proposal included abolishing the Blue House's civil affairs and personnel offices. It also included a mandatory nomination system for young local councilors to foster young politicians and lowering the current candidacy age from 25 to 18. Judicial reform discussions included measures to block preferential treatment for former officials and abolish the statute of limitations for power-related crimes.

As measures for economic innovation and labor market reform, a 'Korean-style basic income' is included to prepare for the post-COVID-19 and Fourth Industrial Revolution era. Chairman Kim Byung-min explained, "Since the previous platform and policy draft included basic income as a whole, naturally, basic income became a main agenda in the top ten policies."

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