[Opinion] The People First Party

There have been over 100 political parties in the history of Korean politics. Some of them, like the Korea Democratic Party, the Democratic National Party, the Democratic Party, the Republic Party, and the Shin Min Party are still remembered; others live on in the national register, only.

One party in particular changed its name many times. Grand National Party member Kang Jae-sup joked, “In less than 20 years, my party has changed names four times. Whenever my foreign friends see me, they are surprised at my changed business card.”

The ruling party under the Chun Doe Hwan government, the Democratic Justice Party (DJP), changed its name to the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) under the Roh Tae-woo government. It then changed its name to the New Korea Party (NKP) when Kim Young-sam took the presidency. The NKP changed its name to the Grand National Party (GNP) under the leadership of then-presidential candidate Lee Hoe-chang nine years ago.

In this respect, the history of political parties can be summed up as the establishment of new buildings and name changes based on the government and a person. Every time a political party alters its name, it chooses a noble, patriotic word like liberty, democracy, or Korea to represent it. Name changing has become so common that political parties are having trouble finding unused words for new names.

There is no way to create a new political party unless a party saves a dead party’s name. For that reason, alternative party names have been introduced with the word “United,” such as the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) and the United Future or the National Congress for New Politics (NCNP).

When these newly created names failed to draw the public attention, we saw names like “Uri Party.” However, I don’t think the Uri Party has been a success. Although Uri Party members ask the nation to call the party by its name instead of making cynical remarks using it, not everyone is listening. The Uri Party even opened a “complaint center for correcting the party name” on its homepage and vowed to eradicate the jokes concerning its name. The party’s problem is not its name, however. It is its politics.

Politicians from Chungcheong Province, including South Chungcheong Province Governor Shim Dae-pyeong and Rhee In-je, established the People First Party (PFP) recently. It seems that the word “people” is being abused here, and that they are trying to differentiate themselves from other parties by using the word “first.”

The party’s mantra is, “Radical reform is not progress. Conservatives obsessed with the vested rights are not conservatives. We, the PFP will push for reasonable conservatism and moderate progress,” which, the PFP maintains, is perfect for a newly created party.

Political realities don’t work that way. If they become a “Chungcheong First Party” that only concerns itself with local elections and tries to becoming the swing vote in national politics, “Outside People Party” might be a more fitting name.

Kim Chung-sik, editorial writer, skim@donga.com