Democratic Party and Open Democratic Party: "Party-to-Party Merger to Be Completed Within the Year... Also Seeking Alliance with Other Democratic Factions"

On the 22nd, Woo Sang-ho, the representative of the Democratic Party negotiation team, and Jeong Bong-ju, the representative of the Open Democratic Party negotiation team, along with other attendees, posed at the meeting of the Democratic Party-Open Democratic Party integration negotiation delegation held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea and the Open Democratic Party agreed on the 22nd to complete their merger within the year and to actively cooperate with other democratic reform factions during the integration process.

The negotiation representatives, Democratic Party lawmaker Woo Sang-ho and Open Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Bong-ju, held a meeting at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in the afternoon and announced this agreement.

They stated, "The negotiation delegation agreed to pursue integration for winning the presidential election and social reform," and added, "We reached a consensus to finalize the integration by the end of the year, after consulting the final opinions of party members as much as possible."

They continued, "During the process of party-to-party integration, we will open the doors to other democratic reform factions and actively cooperate with them."

Furthermore, they said, "Both parties will strive to advance prosecutorial reform and media reform," and "In particular, we will actively consider political reforms including open primaries for the selection of proportional representation members of the National Assembly."

After the announcement of the agreement, Representative Woo responded to reporters' questions about whether the Justice Party is included in other democratic reform groups by saying, "It is difficult to say 'Justice Party.' There may be other factions outside that want to join the presidential campaign committee. It does not mean the party itself."

Specific negotiations are expected to begin as soon as each party completes its internal discussions. Representative Woo said, "I expect it to be as early as this week or early next week."

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