NPAD seeks to move closer to former name ‘Democratic Party’

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy on Monday launched the process to retitle itself before the next general election, ridding itself of one of the most intricate names it has ever had.

The party hinted that the new name would be something that can be abbreviated into its former and popular name “Democratic Party.”

“Today, we officially started the revision process of our party name, NPAD,” Rep. Jung Byung-hun, a member of the party’s Supreme Council, said Monday.

“The new name should reflect our 60-year political history, our vision, the concept of unity and it should also sound easy and familiar to party members and the people.”

The party will run a public contest until next Monday and receive ideas on new names, from which it will single out the best candidates. The final name will be selected in mid-January and announced on Feb. 1, along with a matching party identity.

The retitling project came amid the party’s preparation for its 60th anniversary next year from the foundation of the Democratic Party in September 1955 during the Syngman Rhee administration. It is also considered the party’s attempt to renew its identity and line up the public’s support ahead of the upcoming 20th general elections in April next year.

“The key point is to emphasize the concept of democracy,” said Sohn Hye-won, head of the party’s publicity committee.

But the party’s former and best-known name, “Democratic Party,” is currently unavailable, as it has been taken by an extraparliamentary minority party led by an aide to the late President Kim Dae-jung.

Another dilemma for the party is that former cochairman Ahn Cheol-soo, who continues to hold ground against chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in, has expressed uneasiness over the renaming.

Though the information technology guru-turned-politician said he does not mind the renaming itself, observers suggest that a new party name may further agitate the ongoing factional disputes as the words “new politics” and “alliance” reflect the party’s hard-achieved coalition with Ahn last year.

The new party name will be 11th for the main liberal party since the first democratic government was established in 1987.

After a series of changes, the party returned to its initial name “Democratic Party” in 2008, but switched to Democratic United Party in 2011, back to Democratic Party in 2013, then to the current NPAD in 2014, after uniting with independent lawmaker Ahn.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)