Three progressive parties to merge

Three minor liberal parties on Sunday agreed to merge and create a unified party, quickening their preparations for the general and presidential elections next year.

Democratic Labor Party leader Rep. Lee Jung-hee, People Participation Party leader Ryu Si-min and Roh Hoi-chan, who co-heads the minority group whose name roughly translates as “New United Progressive Alliance,” reached the agreement.

“We have reached this agreement to win the 2012 elections and help carry out a fundamental reform of the Korean politics so that we can live up to the public aspirations for new politics,” they said during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul.

“We will establish a community in which decent lives of laborers, farmers and ordinary citizens are guaranteed, the socially vulnerable and minorities are cared for and the environment and ecosystem are preserved.”

They also vowed to improve inter-Korean ties and entrench peace on the peninsula by upholding the two landmark declarations the two former liberal presidents signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000 and 2007, respectively.

The three parties agreed to have the new party led by three leaders ― one from each party. Its name will be selected through an open competition and opinion polls, officials said.

The parties will hold their respective national conventions to gain final approval for the merger from their members between later this month and early next month. They expect the new party to be created in early or mid-December should there not be any critical objections from within each party.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)