Ordinary Members of the Ruling Party Promote a Reformative Frontier

As a speed control debate was presented inside the Uri Party related to the handling of the four major bills such as the National Security Law, ordinary members have formed reformative frontiers under the slogan of the fulfillment of the four major bills, and signs of a conflict between conservatives and progressives within the party are starting to come to the surface.

The core ordinary members of the Uri Party said, “Recently, the Roh Moo-hyun government’s reformative policies are hesitant,” and have decided to form a ‘national party member association for reforms without discontinuances’ (Joongaeryeon) to lead the reforms. They have had three preparatory meetings from the end of last month, just before the launching of the ‘representative gathering for stable reform’ (Angaemo) formed by moderate conservative members of the party, and they have decided to hold a founding convention on November 27 at Daejeon with a portion of the members participating. Over 200 core members participated on November 18 as founding sponsors.

The temporary executive division of Joongaeryoen has defined the characteristic of the association as a ‘practical active organization of party members with the rectification movement as the purpose’, and clearly stated their target as the moderate members of the party.

The executive division also declared that they would arrange election and rejection motions subject to representatives at the next party convention scheduled for next March.

A core party member leading the organization of Joongaeryoen has currently stated through a composition on his homepage that Rep. Kim Boo-gyeom, who recently criticized President Roh at an interpellation session, and Angaemo are ‘betrayers of the party members and the party’, and asserted that “there must be continual actions to blunt their edge so they will not be able to take root as politicians.”

Whereupon Rep Jeong Jang-sun of Angaemo anxiously replied, “Trying to govern a party and representatives through fear because of a difference of opinion will jeopardize the existence of the party as a democratic political party.”

Jong-Koo Yoon jkmas@donga.com