Left-wing group gets off to rocky start

Dissenters pledge to file suit, citing procedural illegalities


The main opposition Democratic Party, in hand with the civic group-based Citizen Integration Party and the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, kicked off a joint consolidation committee Tuesday.

Those who opposed the plan, however, once again pledged to file a suit, demanding that the court nullify the party’s decision, citing procedural illegalities.

In Tuesday’s meeting, the joint body confirmed its list of 17 members, including Choi, the chairman, DP floor leader Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, CIP chairman Lee Yong-seon and KFTU strategic commissioner Chung Kwang-ho.

Throughout the week, the body is to decide the fundamental details of the consolidated party, such as its official name, constitution, headquarters location and the process of electing its leader.

The party is to include “Democratic” in its name and is to be referred to as the “DP” in abbreviation.

Also, as the CIP has recently been established and the KFTU is not a political party, many of the systems will derive from those of the DP, officials said.

“We aim at adopting an official unity resolution with our partners by this Sunday,” said Rep. Choi In-kee, who was appointed chairman of the new committee.

The given timeline was largely related to the remaining term for DP chairman and the party’s presidential hopeful Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu.

Sohn is slated to end his chairmanship by Sunday at the latest, according to the party’s constitution, which bans candidates from taking party posts for a year prior to the presidential election.

While the DP-led unity project set sail, the DP delegates who boycotted the plan resolved to take legal action against the national convention’s procedures on Sunday.

“We will address to the court by Wednesday at the latest, to file an injunction nullifying the national convention vote,” said a member of the dissenting group.

According to the party constitution, a resolution is adopted through a majority vote by 50 percent or more of its delegates present, but only 5,081 among the 5,282 delegates present cast votes.

Despite disputes and protest, the party’s leadership confirmed the vote as valid and in favor of unity, which resulted in verbal insults and physical violence.

Should the court side with the plaintiffs, the DP’s unity-supporters will be driven to hold another convention or to break away from the party in order to merge with other liberal groups.

The in-party power Rep. Park Jie-won and his supporters, however, pledged to abide by the party’s decision, without taking any legal action.

The former floor leader and aspiring chairman formerly stood against Sohn’s unity plan and urged the party to reshuffle its leadership first, before moving onto consolidation talks.

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