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| Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, left, shakes hands with Rep. Kim Han-gil, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, at an inauguration ceremony of their new coalition party's Gyeonggi Province branch at Suwon Main Stadium, Tuesday. Ceremony for coalition's headquarters is scheduled for March 26. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo's camp signaled Tuesday that their coalition will push for conglomerate reform.
After the first meeting of a joint team tasked with creating the new party's policies, Yoon Young-kwan, a representative for the Ahn camp, told reporters that the coalition's platform would contain measures to reform chaebol or conglomerates.
"It is not anti-chaebol or pro-labor. More importantly, the administration needs to emphasize fair competition in society," said Yoon. "Both sides agreed for the need to create a just and fair country. We agreed on pushing for conglomerate reform, if necessary, to create such a country."
Byun Jae-il, the DP's representative, said: "This was what the main opposition party was hoping for."
The new party's inauguration ceremony will take place on March 26.
The Ahn side earlier suggested that the DP agree on including content stating, "The party will push ahead with improving ownership and management structure, and resolving controversy surrounding unfair inside transactions" as part of the coalition's platform.
Ahn has so far stressed that he will adopt liberalism when handling economic policy, while becoming a conservative when dealing with national security measures.
The two representatives' acknowledgment of the inclusion of chaebol reform measures was construed as a sign that the DP accepted Ahn's request.
The team also signaled that the coalition would not adopt the "success of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration and the October 4 Joint Declaration" as part of its platform.
That potential decision would also be seen as the DP making a big concession.
The June 15 declaration was drawn up between late liberal President Kim Dae-jung and late Northern leader Kim Jong-il, while the latter was a result of an inter-Korean summit while late Roh Moo-hyun was in office.
The two liberal presidents have been regarded as representative figures of the opposition party.
"The two opposition forces agreed on the formation of the coalition to realize new political values through integration," said Byun. "The goal of the DP is to show the public its will to change, rather than sticking to its own legacy."
However, a sign of possible conflict between the two sides was also detected after it became known that the Ahn camp asked the DP to agree to abolish its Supreme Council, which has had enormous power in making decisions about party affairs.
Ahn's aides believe that the council is one of the causes for factional disputes, and scrapping it could contribute to increasing the speed of the decision-making process.
Members of the DP are said to be opposed to the proposal.
When drawing up national security policy, the two camps are also expected to clash as some hardliners of the leading opposition party are said to disagree with Ahn on the issue.
The team's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
Earlier this month, DP Chairman Kim Han-gil and Ahn agreed to merge in a bid to confront the ruling Saenuri Party in the June 4 local elections, and to change the government in the next presidential election in 2017.
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