Liberal breakaway groups to merge as single party

Former lawmaker Shin Kyung-min of the New Future Party, left, and former lawmaker Park Won-seok of the Future Coalition announce the two groups' merger during a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap

A liberal political group led by former Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Lee Nak-yon and another group of former DPK lawmakers critical of the main opposition party’s current leadership will merge as a single party.

During a press conference at the National Assembly, Sunday, the New Future Party, led by the former DPK chairman, and the Future Coalition comprised of Reps. Lee Won-wook, Cho Eung-cheon and Kim Jong-min, announced that they will “jointly set up a political party” to “answer the public's calls to bring political reforms and change for the future.”

Tentatively named the Reformist Future Party, it will hold its official launching ceremony on Feb. 4, having democracy, public livelihood and future as its key catchphrase.

The two groups each broke away from the DPK recently, crying foul over what they described as the current Chairman Lee Jae-myung’s “self-righteous” leadership.

Given the party's DPK roots, the merger as a single political party is anticipated to deal a significant blow to the main opposition’s support rate in the upcoming April 10 general elections.

The merger came amid discussions over “a big tent” of parties which were created recently to challenge the dominance of the ruling People Power Party and the DPK.

Of five new political parties or groups which were created in recent months, three are remaining after mergers — the Reformist Future Party, the conservative Reformist Party, headed by former PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok, and the New Choice, headed by former lawmaker Keum Tae-seop.

Holding the key for the big tent initiative is the collaboration between the Reformist Future Party and the Reformist Party, which are still showing differences on various pending issues.

Reformist Party Chairman Lee wrote on Facebook Sunday that “with the Reformist Party making issues on political reforms, the merged new party’s idea of using the name Reformist New Party seems to be an attempt at free-riding.”