<기사제목>Sa Min-dang Founder Cheon Ho-seon: "The Proposal Made to the Late Roh Hoe-chan, Now Determined to Fulfill It"

Cheon Ho-seon, KBS Radio Interview
"Justice Party Isolated by Hostility Toward Both Major Parties"
"Coalition Needed to Achieve Secularization of Progressivism"

Cheon Ho-seon, Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party, revealed that he had previously proposed the founding of a party to the late Roh Hoe-chan, a member of the Justice Party, stating, "I am now committed to carrying out the proposal I made to Representative Roh after a very long time."

On this day, appearing on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs,' Secretary General Cheon said, "A few months before Representative Roh passed away, during a time when the Justice Party was drifting away from a popular line and struggling, I proposed, 'You should become the party leader. Then I will take on the role of Secretary General and manage the practical work so you don't have to worry about it.'

He continued, "Representative Roh passed away before giving an answer, but now that younger colleagues want to engage in politics anew, I accepted their offer to become Secretary General, thinking that my experience would be helpful to them."

Secretary General Cheon is the inaugural leader of the Justice Party and currently a board member of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation. The Social Democratic Party, led mainly by him and former Justice Party officials, held its founding initiator meeting last month.

Cheon Ho-seon, Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the Justice Party, he gave a frank assessment, saying, "The Justice Party, which was the existing main progressive party, failed to give the impression that it focused on equality and a welfare state, and in reality, it did not make people feel a sense of efficacy from its achievements."

Secretary General Cheon said, "I fully understand the drawbacks of the two-party system, but for a small party to achieve political results, it must form alliances with parties and gain the consent of other lawmakers. However, the Justice Party has isolated itself by viewing the Democratic Party and the People Power Party as the same and hostile parties, and at times, it has repeatedly ended up aligning with the political intentions of the People Power Party or the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. This assessment was ultimately confirmed in the recent Gangseo-gu by-election."

Regarding the possibility as a third political force, he said, "The term 'number 3' is a very confusing expression. To be precise, we are on the left of the Democratic Party, and based on the judgment that the existing Justice Party has reached certain limits, our direction is not just to replace the Justice Party but to create an evolved and progressive progressive party, a more advanced progressive party than the Justice Party."

Secretary General Cheon explained, "The Social Democratic Party basically follows a popular line," adding, "We have the slogan 'More Roh Hoe-chan-like than the Justice Party,' and Representative Roh was a person who took a very pragmatic political progressive line."

He then mentioned Representative Roh's concept of the 'secularization of progressivism.' Secretary General Cheon said, "For example, a representative metaphor is the idea that if aliens invade, we might even ally with Japan. This means that if necessary, we can form alliances or coalitions with the Democratic Party or other parties. This openness is essential. Such a secularization is something that has disappeared in current progressive parties or existing progressive parties."

As a methodology to achieve the secularization of progressivism, he emphasized coalition government. Secretary General Cheon said, "By valuing progressivism, we must persuade fellow lawmakers and other parties as much as possible to pass legislation and make people feel a sense of efficacy in progressive politics. Just like coalition governments in Europe, we also need the wisdom to form alliances, fight if rejected, and proceed flexibly."

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