Jo Eung-cheon "Why is Lee Nak-yeon in such a hurry... Getting candidate number 3 is not easy"

Former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon has officially announced plans to establish a new party early next year. Meanwhile, Cho Eung-cheon, a member of the Democratic Party's non-mainstream reform faction 'Principles and Common Sense,' which is calling for change within the party, expressed concern, saying, "Why is he in such a hurry?"

On the 14th, Cho said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "This is being carried out independently of us (Principles and Common Sense)."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee appeared on SBS the previous day and revealed plans to form a new party next year, aiming to become the largest party in the National Assembly in the general election by pursuing an alliance with the third zone.

However, Cho said, "Isn't the Democratic Party the largest party for now?" and added, "The Democratic Party needs to stand straight first so that the People Power Party will also become alert and follow suit. Only then will Korean politics be set right. Only then will the hateful events like those in the 21st National Assembly not be repeated. That is why our direction is to somehow reform the Democratic Party."

Lee's declaration to establish a new party is interpreted as effectively cutting off his retreat. Cho said, "Considering his usual way of speaking, he has already crossed the river," and added, "(He seems to think like) Representative Lee Sang-min, who left the party. That it cannot be fixed. That seems to be his view about the Democratic Party."

When asked by the host whether it is physically possible to declare the party's formation early next year, Cho said, "Lee's side has already built a large off-parliament organization called Democracy Practice Action. It is quite a nationwide organization with many members. I heard it was originally formed on the premise of establishing a new party," and added, "So, based on that, I think the party formation process will gain considerable momentum."

However, he was skeptical about the goal of becoming the 'largest party in the National Assembly.' He said, "I was quite surprised, but I wonder if it will be that easy to receive ballot number 3," and criticized, "In the end, just under the banner of anti-Lee Jae-myung, becoming the largest party is out of the question."

Cho said, "You need to present new values and visions that can break the contradictions Korean society is currently facing and the public's disgust with politics," and added, "Looking at the history of political parties in our country, new parties have been formed but did not last long, often being absorbed or disappearing. Because of this, there is a tendency to vote for the first or second parties due to the fear that voting for a new party would be a wasted vote. Therefore, only if many remarkable members are gathered among the new party's constituents will the wasted vote prevention psychology not operate."

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