New third parties seek to woo independent voters

Two former Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers are launching new parties with the general election less than a year away.

The move to new parties seek to attract a niche of swing voters who don’t lean toward either of the two major parties -- the conservative People Power Party in power and the liberal main opposition, Democratic Party of Korea. Recent polls indicate about 30 percent of South Korean voters identify as “politically independent.”

Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, an independent lawmaker who left the Democratic Party last year, held a founding convention at a venue near the National Assembly building in Yeouido on Monday.

Announcing her new party, Hope of Korea, Yang said she envisions the kind of politics that “lead the times,” “enact change” and are “needed by the people.”

Yang switched to independent after the Democratic Party tried to stifle her opposition to the party’s bid to increase the authority of the police while curtailing that of the prosecution.

Another Democratic Party defector, Keum Tae-sup, who served on the party’s leadership for two consecutive terms, unveiled plans on this day for forming a new party.

He said in a release that at his new party, he hopes to recruit “fresh talents, not establishment insiders.”

Keum left the party more than two years ago when he found himself to be a minority within the Democratic Party opposing the party’s push to downsize the prosecution’s investigative functions. The party took discinplinary measures against him for voicing disagreement, to which he protested.

The minor Justice Party said Sunday that it was “re-launching” the party in September in a bid to broaden coalition with other third parties.