Park Won-seok: "No Possibility of Geum Tae-seop Joining New Party... No Proposal Made"

"New Political Forces, Justice Party Alone Is Not Enough"
"Saying the Trajectories Are Different Is Too Subjective"

Former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop's rumored joining of the 'Bipartisan Alternative New Party' he leads was dismissed as "impossible" by Park Won-seok, former policy committee chairman of the Justice Party. He said they only formed a consensus to "overcome factional confrontation politics."

On the 6th, Park, the former policy committee chairman, said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "I don't really know the details of the new party that former lawmaker Geum is promoting, nor do I know well the people participating in it."

Park Won-seok, Justice Party member of the National Assembly

This came after reports that he, former lawmaker Geum, and former Hannara Party lawmaker Jeong Tae-geun were preparing to establish the 'Bipartisan Alternative New Party.' He said, "The three of us, former lawmakers, met and exchanged opinions on various political situations, and in the process, we did form a consensus that a new political landscape is needed to overcome the current extreme factional confrontation politics," but added, "There is no concrete plan confirmed yet regarding the establishment of a new party."

He also said there was no request from former lawmaker Geum to join. Park said, "There was absolutely no such (joining) proposal," and added, "The new party that former lawmaker Geum is promoting is not at a stage of considerable completion, nor is it at a stage where a founding convention can be held immediately. It is just at the stage of a forum-like organization that has just started to attempt founding a party, so there are many uncertainties."

The Justice Party is also preparing for reestablishment through an alliance with a third force. In response to the host's question, "Does this mean that the Justice Party's reestablishment movement takes precedence over joining the new party?" he said, "Since I am a member of the Justice Party, naturally that is the basis," but added, "However, I don't think the Justice Party alone can do it. I don't believe that a new political force that can replace the so-called two-party-centered order of the third zone can be formed by the Justice Party alone."

When asked whether the proliferation of new parties might lead to a turf war over the status of the third party, he said, "That could become a turf war, but it could also be cooperation," and added, "There is a huge regressive system of the two major parties, and various attempts are being made to counter that regressive system. I think it is necessary for those attempts to appear in a cooperative direction."

Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi has drawn a line against these parties, saying "their life trajectories are different." Regarding this, Park said, "Saying that life trajectories are different is too subjective," and added, "There can be differences in outlook, vision, identity, and values, but I don't think now is the time to conclude those differences and build walls."

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