Democratic Party Forms Coalition and Integration Committee... '23 Days After Proposal to Innovation Party'

Cho Seungrae Appointed as Chair, Lee Yeonhee as Vice Chair

Broad Discussions Planned on Innovation Party Merger and Election Coalition

On March 4, the Democratic Party of Korea established the "Committee for Promotion of Coalition and Integration" to discuss the issue of a broader pro-government alliance during the upcoming local elections. It is expected that coalition matters with parties such as the Innovation Party will be officially discussed.

Park Suhyun, the chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party, met with reporters after the 최고위원회의 held earlier that day and stated, "During the closed 최고위원회의, the proposal to establish and organize the Committee for Promotion of Coalition and Integration was approved. Cho Seungrae, the party's Secretary-General, was appointed as the chair, and Lee Yeonhee, the head of strategic planning, was named vice chair. The committee members will primarily consist of key working-level party officials, and the full composition will be announced soon."

Jeong Cheongrae, the leader of the Democratic Party, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on March 4, 2026. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Regarding the role of the committee, spokesperson Park explained, "It will primarily be responsible for coalition activities with the Innovation Party, other political parties, and civil society organizations." When asked whether the issue of integration with the Innovation Party would also be discussed in the future, he responded, "Everything is included," adding, "The committee will address not only discussions on election alliances with the Innovation Party but also broader topics aimed at achieving coalition and integration overall."

Park also said, "A flood of meeting requests continues to come in from various political parties, social groups, and civil society organizations to Representative Jeong," and added, "This will also be discussed by the committee."

Previously, on January 22, Representative Jeong held an emergency press conference at the National Assembly and proposed a merger to the Innovation Party. However, due to internal opposition regarding the manner of the merger proposal, he announced on February 10 that it would be difficult to pursue the merger at that time, and suspended discussions. At the time of suspending the merger talks, Representative Jeong suggested forming joint committees within both the Democratic Party and the Innovation Party. In response, the Innovation Party held a party executive meeting on February 13 and announced the formation of its own committee. However, it was only on this day, 23 days after the Democratic Party proposed forming a committee to the Innovation Party, that the Democratic Party established its committee. It has been 41 days since the merger was first proposed.

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