Liberal proportional party announces pledges in 1 day copying ruling party’s

The Together Citizens' Party, a proportional party of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, is back under criticism as the party withdrew its 10 major pledges and announced new 10 pledges in just one day, exactly copying the 10 major pledges of the ruling party. Although the proportional party hurriedly revised its pledges, the criticism calling it a rough-and-ready party seems to have been brought upon itself.

The Together Citizens' Party revealed its new 10 major pledges on Wednesday morning through the policy and pledge page of the National Election Commission. The new pledges came in after the party withdrew its original pledges, including the special prosecution of the prosecution’s interruption with the president’s personnel appointment authorities, the switch of the Military Demarcation Line to the rear concept, and the provision of basic income of 600,000 won to all South Koreans.

However, the new 10 pledges announced by the proportional party on Wednesday were exactly the same as the Democratic Party of Korea’s in their order and content. From the first pledge of building the country as one of the top four venture destinations to the 10th pledge of developing the nation’s cultural assets, the ruling party’s 10 major pledges were exactly copied, including their names and order, as well as detailed goals, execution measures, and funding plans.

In the face of heavy criticism, the Together Citizens' Party distributed the revised 10 major pledges, which include building a country safe from infectious diseases and creating a society safe from digital sex crimes, to the press. However, the new pledges lacked detailed execution and funding measures.

The members of minor parties who joined the Together Citizens' Party criticized the proportional party’s revision of pledges as one-sided conduct. “Given the aim of launching the Together Citizens' Party to enable the participation of minor parties in the National Assembly, the unilateral revision of pledges is regretful,” said Secretary General Kim Chung-bae of the Transition Korea Party during a phone interview with The Dong-A Ilbo.


Sung-Hwi Kang yolo@donga.com