Sohn, Park agree to two-step DP convention

The Democratic Party’s internal strife over left-wing consolidation was temporarily settled as leading figures reached a last-minute compromise to split the national party convention into two stages.

The party will hold a national convention on achieving unity first and select the new leadership in a separate process.

The party’s chairman Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu met former floor leader and aspiring chairman Rep. Park Jie-won late Sunday in a bid to narrow their differences on the creation of a unified liberal party.

Park’s aides had pledged to call a national party convention despite Sohn’s disapproval.

“The DP shall first hold a national convention to confirm liberal consolidation and then another to select the leader of the new united party,” said Sohn in the party’s Supreme Council meeting early Monday.

The compromise was suggested earlier by Sohn but refused by Park and other minority groups.

“We both took a step back from our original stances,” Park also said in a radio interview.

Park’s aides said his move was a gesture of self-sacrifice as he was considered the top potential to win the party’s leadership, should the DP decide to hold an internal election.

Despite the agreement within the DP, the liberal camp faces further obstacles in attaining unification before next year’s major elections.

Park and other would-be chairmen claimed that only party members should be able to vote for chairman in the election but Sohn, together with the non-party group Innovation and Integration, preferred an open public vote.

The two also displayed different stances over the follow-up actions on the U.S.-Korea free trade deal ratification.

Sohn’s decision-making body pledged to employ all legal and political means to nullify the pact and urge renegotiation, hinting at boycotting the budget bill reviews and other parliamentary procedures until the GNP takes due measures.

Park argued that liberal lawmakers should attend to their parliamentary duties during the day and take part in protests at night.

Details of the two-step national convention are to be confirmed in the party’s general meeting on Tuesday, according to officials.

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