No Disagreement on the Party Name 'Gukminuihim'... United Party Drops 'Four-Term Limit' from Its Platform (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Kim Hye-min] On the 1st, ahead of the Standing National Committee meeting to revise the new party name and platform policy, the United Future Party gathered the final opinions of its affiliated members of the National Assembly and decided to remove the 'four-term limit for National Assembly members' from the platform revision proposal.

The new party name selected by the Emergency Response Committee, 'Gungminui Him' (People Power), was submitted to the Standing National Committee as originally planned after collecting opinions.

During the members' meeting that day, Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in told reporters, "There are no objections regarding the party name." Immediately after the meeting, floor spokesperson Bae Hyun-jin said, "Party names are always unfamiliar, so there are bound to be many differing opinions. It was the same when deciding on the United Future Party," adding, "Overall, many opinions were that it was a fresh challenge and good."

However, no conclusion was reached on the platform and policy revisions concerning the four-term limit, separate collection of KBS license fees, and the consolidation of metropolitan and basic council members. The United Future Party decided to compile the opinions from the members' meeting and deliver them to the Emergency Committee, which will make the final decision on any amendments.

Bae Jun-young, spokesperson for the United Future Party, briefed reporters at the Emergency Committee Chairman's office, saying, "Regarding the four-term limit, legal experts pointed out that there is a possibility of unconstitutionality," adding, "It is difficult to include it in the platform policy, so it will likely be handled by law, and a separate reform special committee will be formed to promote it." He also stated that the separate collection of KBS license fees and the consolidation of metropolitan and basic council members would be amended.

Although the 'ban on four-term re-election' was removed from the platform policy, the United Future Party explained that there is no change in the direction of reform. Kim Byung-min, chairman of the United Future Party's Special Committee on Platform Policy Revision, said, "There is no change in the overall direction," and explained, "Besides banning four-term re-election for National Assembly members, there were comments that there are many things to pursue by relinquishing vested interests, so it was decided to promote this through the special committee."

He added, "Since the process of legislating the four-term ban was discussed, there will be proposals from current members and processes to push it forward," and said, "The process of legislating and implementing it is important, and follow-up measures will be carried out quickly."

Regarding the separate collection of KBS license fees, Chairman Kim also said, "We included strong wording to abolish forced integrated collection and moved toward concretizing the content," and added, "For the consolidation of basic and metropolitan council members, various ideas for local government reform were proposed beyond this, so it was replaced with a comprehensive phrase stating that 'local governments will also take the lead in comprehensive reform.'"

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