34 Lawmakers Form 3rd Largest Negotiating Group
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Thirty-four lawmakers from the Democratic Party (DP), the pro-government Uri Party and Uri deserters' group agreed, Monday, to a merger to form a new party.
About 15 more incumbent Uri lawmakers are expected to join the merger later, sources said.
As a result of the merger, the new party has become the third largest negotiating group at the 299-member National Assembly. The Uri Party has 107 seats, while the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has 128 seats.
The 34 legislators comprise 13 from the DP, 20 from the deserters' group and one legislator from the Uri Party.
``Considering the merger as the starting point, we will admit all political and civic group members,'' the three groups said in a joint statement. ``We will do our utmost to engage in politics for the sake of public integration not division.''
The statement said the merged group will differentiate itself from the conservative GNP and the embattled Uri Party.
The DP and the deserters' group will now set up a party platform and work out policies, officials said.
Based on the spirit of liberal forces, we will seek to be the driving force for development of democracy, they said.
The party will register itself with the National Election Commission next Friday and hold its inaugural national convention late this month, party officials said.
DP Chairman Park Sang-cheon and Rep. Kim Han-gill of the deserters' group are expected to lead the new party.
In the run-up to the Dec. 19 presidential election, the party will contact other political parties and civic group members to recruit outside figures and study campaign pledges.
Chairman Chung Sye-kyun of the Uri Party expressed discontent with the merger, criticizing it as a bluff. The Uri Party had held several meetings with the DP to discuss a coalition but failed to reach an agreement.