DPK puts brakes on merger plans with Rebuilding Korea Party, for now
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has decided to pause its push to merge with the minor Rebuilding Korea Party, concluding that moving ahead before the June 3 local elections would be impractical. The decision followed a closed-door meeting of DPK lawmakers held Tuesday at the National Assembly. After hours of discussion, most lawmakers concluded that, while party integration might be justified in principle, the timing was inappropriate given mounting internal tensions. Park Soo-hyun, the party’s chief spokesperson, said the meeting reflected growing concern that the merger debate itself had become divisive. “Even if the proposal to merge with the Rebuilding Korea Party was made with sincere intentions to support the Lee Jae Myung administration’s policy agenda, lawmakers shared the view that the process has ended up fueling internal conflict,” Park told reporters after the meeting. He added that lawmakers asked the leadership to “bring the discussion to a swift conclusion” by reflecting the outcome of the meeting. According to party officials, only a small number of
