Big tent party in peril as two heads clash over control

Reform Party Co-Chairmen Lee Nak-yon, left and Lee Jun-seok attend a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

The Reform Party, a big tent political party that was formed recently and is led by the former heads of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), finds itself in turmoil, as its leaders clashed, Monday, over a vote to entrust its Co-Chairman Lee Jun-seok with the authority to lead the party’s election campaign and policymaking activities.

Lee Nak-yon, the other co-chairman, stormed out of the party’s Supreme Council meeting in protest of the vote, while former PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok criticized the former DPK leader's reaction as "agitating," urging him to "accept the outcome of the vote." The former DPK leader's camp said it will hold a press conference on Tuesday, hinting at a potential departure from the big tent political party.

According to Reform Party spokesperson Her Eun-a, the party's Supreme Council conducted the vote, resulting in the decision to empower Lee Jun-seok to lead the party's campaign efforts and determine its policy direction.

All members present at the meeting, with the exception of Lee Nak-yon and Supreme Council member Rep. Kim Jong-min, concurred with this decision. Both are affiliated with the Saemirae Party, a breakaway faction of the DPK, which had previously agreed to merge with the Reform Party on Feb. 9.

“(The Supreme Council) attempted to unilaterally advance the agenda,” Kim told reporters. “My point is clear. Entrusting the whole election campaign to Lee Jun-seok is impossible in a democratic political party.”

“There is no clarification on what tasks he will be entrusted with, meaning everything … How can a democratic political party entrust its policymaking processes to a certain individual?” he added.

The Saemirae Party issued a statement asserting that the Reform Party has effectively transformed into Lee Jun-seok's personal political entity, stating, "we categorically reject any undemocratic procedures that undermine the essence of the merger."

On Monday evening, the Saemirae Party said in a press briefing that Lee Nak-yon and other members would convene a press conference regarding the internal conflict within the Reform Party. This development has sparked speculation that the Saemirae Party could break away from the Reform Party.

During the announcement, Rep. Kim said the voting had "shattered unity" and criticized Lee Jun-seok, stating that he is "disqualified as a politician." In response, Lee Jun-seok wrote on Facebook that he would "not entertain attempts to disregard the outcome of the vote."

Reform Party Co-Chairman Lee Jun-seok speaks during a debate hosted by Kwanhun Club at Press Center in central Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

The clash has been widely anticipated because the Reform Party was created via an abrupt merger of conservatives who followed Lee Jun-seok and several liberal political groups, including some hardliners. Of them, the former PPP chairman has been facing an uproar from his supporters who are refusing to go into coalition, claiming that the Reform Party will end up being controlled by the liberals.

Against that backdrop, Lee Jun-seok and Lee Nak-yon butted heads over the weekend over who will take control of the Reform Party’s election campaign and whether it should grant membership to Bae Bok-joo, a former vice chairperson of the left-leaning Justice Party and disability rights activist who has been accusing Lee Jun-seok of being an “ableist.”

While Lee Jun-seok demanded the party entrust him with the power to control the election campaign and exempt Bae from gaining candidacy in the Reform Party for the April 10 general elections, Lee Nak-yon said that the party had already agreed to appoint him as the campaign chief and Bae should not be exempted.

During a debate hosted at Kwanhun Club, a journalist group, Monday, Lee Jun-seok said, “There could be objections to the voting but such an agitating response goes against the spirit of unity.”

“Though voting is not always the best option, but once it is held, I believe the reasonable stance is accepting the result,” he said. “Surveys show that most of our supporters are younger generations, and Lee Nak-yon’s campaigns are effective for conventional supporters while mine is targeting the participation of the younger generations. The vote was a reasonable adjustment between these two values.”

Lee Jun-seok continued that Bae decided to join the Reform Party without withdrawing her claim that the former PPP chairman discriminates against the disabled, and that she needs “to explain her position well to party members if she seriously wants to pursue her career in the Reform Party.”

Though Lee Jun-seok said that the party is working on holding its convention on Feb. 25 as scheduled, doubts are growing as to whether the big tent party can stay afloat while having such conflicts within it.

Then-Justice Party Vice Chairperson Bae Bok-joo speaks during a meeting of political party leaders at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, March 28. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keun

According to a Realmeter poll released on Monday, the Reform Party secured a 6.3 percent support rate, trailing the DPK which stands at 40.2 percent and the PPP with 39.1 percent. The poll surveyed 1,009 adults from Feb. 15 to 16 at the request of Energy Economy Newspaper. Further details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s website.

Given the past precedents, this is a worrisome level for the Reform Party which seeks to change the landscape of Korea’s two-party politics. During the 2016 general elections, the People’s Party, which was created as a moderate political party, collected 38 out of 300 National Assembly seats.