Ruling party, satellite party agree to seek merger

This file photo shows Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Song Young-gil, left, shaking hands with Open Democratic Party leader Choe Kang-wook at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 11. Yonhap

The ruling Democratic Party said Thursday it has agreed with the minor Open Democratic Party to seek their merger, a move that comes less than four months ahead of the presidential election.

The agreement was reached Wednesday between DP Chairman Song Young-gil and his Open Democratic Party counterpart, Choe Kang-wook, according to Koh Yong-jin, a senior DP spokesperson.

The minor party is considered a "satellite party" of the DP, as it was launched by former DP lawmakers ahead of last year's parliamentary elections. The party went on to win three proportional representation seats in the National Assembly.

The DP, which holds an absolute majority of 169 out of 295 seats, has appointed Rep. Woo Sang-ho to lead the merger negotiations. The Open Democratic Party has yet to name his counterpart.

The negotiators will be tasked with discussing when and how to merge the parties.

"If we were to merge by absorption, then we could use our current party name, but because this is a party-to-party merger, we will talk about the party name, too," Koh said. "We are planning to move quickly on the merger."

The minor party is believed to be popular among diehard supporters of the liberal ruling bloc, a factor that could consolidate the DP's support base but also alienate its more moderate supporters.

The Open Democratic Party has not fielded its own presidential candidate and will throw its support behind Lee if the merger succeeds.

Lee has trailed his rival Yoon Seok-youl of the main opposition People Power Party by around 10 percentage points in recent public opinion surveys on the most favored presidential candidate. (Yonhap)