UPP expels four lawmakers

By Chung Min-uck

The minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP) expelled four lawmakers Friday, paving the way for the creation of a new progressive party.

They are Reps. Park Won-suk, Seo Ki-ho, Jeong Jin-hoo and Kim Je-nam.

Attended by ten out of 13 UPP lawmakers, seven including the four reformist lawmakers and former UPP floor leader Rep. Shim Sang-jeong voted for the expulsion during the UPP’s general assembly held at the National Assembly.

Following the majority approval, the UPP is left with nine seats in the 300-member Assembly.

Observers say the part will be embroiled in a deeper internal conflict following the departure because the largest faction in the party still objects to the expulsion.

The reformists earlier announced plans to quit the party over an ongoing factional feud and to establish a new party with a new form of progressive politics.

“We plan to join Chairman Kang Ki-kab in creating a new progressive party for the people and establish a truly reforming progressive politics the people wish for,” said the expelled lawmakers in a press conference held prior to the general assembly. “We are saying goodbye to those who claim what they think is always right while neglecting the common wishes of the general public.”

The move came following an order from the party’s Seoul chapter Thursday that the four reformist lawmakers should be expelled from the party.

The reformist lawmakers have been pushing for self-expulsion from the party because under the law here proportional representative lawmakers lose their parliamentary seats if they drop their party membership.

The four lawmakers were elected on the proportional tickets of the UPP in the April general elections. However, they claim they can keep their parliamentary seats because the expulsion does not mean losing party membership.

“The situation here is not a personal defection from the party but the split of a party,” Rep. Seo told the reporters after the conference.

The call for a split began to make headlines because the two factions within the UPP failed to narrow their differences over how to handle a vote-rigging scandal surrounding the party’s primary race ahead of the April elections.

Meanwhile, the larger faction members unilaterally appointed Rep. Oh Byung-yun as the new floor leader of the UPP on Thursday to put a stop to the split.