By Chung Min-uck
Three lawmakers of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP) announced Thursday they were leaving to create a new progressive party.
“We have decided to quit and form a new progressive party with the trust of the people and members,” said Reps. Sim Sang-jung, Roh Hoe-chan and Kang Dong-won in a joint news conference held in the National Assembly, Thursday. “We couldn’t just collapse due to the outdated order and hegemonic struggle within the party.”
Following the announcement, the UPP is left with six seats in the 300-member Assembly.
Last week, four other UPP lawmakers ― Reps. Park Won-suk, Seo Ki-ho, Jeong Jin-hoo and Kim Je-nam ― quit the party over an ongoing factional feud.
The UPP originally had 13 seats at the Assembly.
The party has been caught in factional infighting since the April general elections due to a vote-rigging scandal in the its primary race. The smaller, reformist faction demanded the expulsion of two lawmakers ― Reps. Lee Seok-ki and Kim Jae-yeon ― who are accused of winning their proportional representation seats through rigging the ballot.
They belong to the bigger and extreme mainstream faction which is trying to stop the party from breaking up. The faction is known as having many followers of North Korea’s philosophy of “juche” (self-reliance).
The reformist faction plans to hold a general meeting on Sunday to discuss creating a new progressive party after their defection is complete.
Meanwhile, former UPP Chairman Yoo Si-min also quit the party the same day.
“I am sorry that we broke our promise of establishing a good progressive party,” said Yoo. “We will start from the basics, which means understanding what the general public really wants.”
The defectors also plan to pick a candidate to run for the Dec. 19 presidential election after forming a new party.
“The issue of selecting a presidential candidate will begin after the general meeting slated for Sunday,” said Rep. Shim. “For now we will focus on listening to labor unions and civic groups as to which path the new envisioned party should take.”