The main opposition Democratic United Party and the minor United Progressive Party are moving to forge an alliance in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Watching their negotiations, one may wonder if the powerful, resurgent, center-left party is playing second fiddle to the smaller, more left-wing party.
Before the talks started in February, it was widely anticipated that the UPP’s demand for concessions in nominations would be a major stumbling block to the proposed electoral alliance. But the DUP has not put up too much opposition to the UPP’s demand that 12 of the 246 electoral districts be set aside for its candidates.
The DUP is strong enough to aim at putting the legislature under its control next month and set its sights on the presidency in the December election. What has it gained in exchange for promising not to field its candidates in the 12 winnable districts? Not much. It is being dragged into making more concessions, this time on policies.
One of them is the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island. Before the alliance talks started, the DUP put up conditional opposition. Moreover, the project was initiated by the Roh Moo-hyun administration. However, it now has agreed to the UPP’s demand that it be scrapped.
One last issue the two parties are grappling with is what to do with the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, which is set to take effect next Thursday. The DUP believes that some of the treaty’s controversial articles must be revised, but not that the deal must be scrapped. After all, it was the Roh administration that started treaty negotiations. But the UPP demands that the treaty be scrapped, instead of being revised.
The DUP will have to take utmost care in making a final decision on this issue. Its yield to the UPP’s demand would alienate voters more than endear itself to them, as indicated by an recent opinion poll.
According to the survey, 49 percent of the respondents opposed the proposed scrapping of the free trade agreement and 41 percent supported it. In addition, 60 percent said they believed DUP leader Han Myeong-sook and others, who had served for the Roh administration, were irresponsible when they reversed their stance and withdrew their support for the treaty.
The DUP would do well not to give the impression that it did something it should not have done in blind pursuit of votes.
