Jeong’s Resignation Fuels Uri Exodus

On February 1, a lawmaker from the ruling Uri Party, Jeong Deok-koo, gave up his seat.

In a press conference, he said, “I tried in vain to prevent the Uri Party from getting out of touch with the voters. I agonized over serving out my term or resigning.” He used to be a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies Seoul National University before serving as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy. He plans to go back to the university to teach.

His resignation is likely to prompt his colleagues in the party to leave the party en masse. Led by the former party chief Kim Han-gil, lawmakers eager to desert the party have started receiving signatures from lawmakers who intend to quit.

On a separate note, it is reported that seven lawmakers, including Song Young-kim of the Uri Party, Kim Hyo-seok of the Democratic Party and Shin Kook-kwan of the People First Party (PFP) met in Yeouido to form a negotiating bloc composed of first- and second-term lawmakers from the Uri Party and PFP legislators from local constituencies before Uri Party National Convention on February 14.

To counter this move, Uri Party chief Kim Geun-tae, who is pushing for creating a new party through a national convention, said in a press conference, “We will create a new integrated party that is more than a mere remodeling of our party.” He criticized lawmakers wanting to quit, saying, “They are rejecting talks of any kind. They are betraying the people and democracy.”

On the same day, former party chief Chung Dong-young, who was visiting Busan, said, “The national convention is something where we give up vested interests and seek ways to change our party fundamentally. I will never desert the party before the national convention.”

In the meantime, Jeong Deok-koo will be replaced by the director of the Women’s Leadership Center of the Uri Party Shin Myung (61), who served as the head of the Korea Labor Education Institute and who has worked for equality in employment at the Labor Ministry.

leon@donga.com