Party That Turned Blind Eye to Public Opinion

The supreme council meeting of the Uri Party was held in a friendly atmosphere at the party’s headquarters in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul on August 6. The members seemed to be encouraged by the official announcement of a merger between the New Democratic and Uri parties at the foundation party of the New Democratic Party the previous day.

Jeong Se-gyun, the chairman of the Uri Party, said, “For sure, the decision to integrate the New Democratic party was made based on party-to-party mergers. The first thing to do is to set out discussions needed for the process of merging parties between the New Democratic and Uri parties.” But one of the officials who was present at the meeting said, “We may seem to smile, but in fact we should cry.” It is because the Uri Party, which proclaimed itself as a party that would last for a century, is on the verge of disappearing.

Self-destruction-

The Uri Party was established in November 2003 by 47 foundation members who had broken with the Democratic Party with the slogan of, “Prosperous Country, Clean Politics.” When it declares its merger with the New Democratic Party at the party convention next week, the Uri Party will have disappeared three years and nine months after its establishment.

Allegedly, President Roh Moo-hyun initially did not like the Uri Party’s idea. However, the Uri Party would not exist if presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun wasn’t elected.

The Uri Party became the top party when it acquired 152 seats in the National Assembly in the 17th parliamentary election, which was positively affected by the impeachment of President Roh in 2004. Just after the general election, Jeong Dong-yeong, then Uri Party chairman, assured all that the party would “govern the country for the next two and three decades and continue for a century.” However, what the victory brought was a “poison” of self-conceit and dogma.

The Uri Party took the initiative in proceeding with four reform bills by 2005 only to fail to pass any. Last year, Jeong acknowledged that the party made mistakes by going “all-in” for bills unrelated to the livelihood of the public, saying, “The hats of the four reform bills were worn wrong.”

The approval ratings of the Uri Party fell when the party failed to proceed with real-estate policies and it became tired of reform. Since April 2005, the party has been defeated crushingly 0 to 40 in bi-elections. It won only one position, governor of North Jeolla Province, at the 5.31 local elections for 16 metropolitan governments.

With blame and criticism for the party losing its meaning, what was left for the Uri Party was a withdrawal. Since the beginning of this year, four massive withdrawals of lawmakers have continued: the withdrawal of 23 lawmakers including Kim Han-gil and Gang Bong-gyun (February 6); the withdrawal 15 lawmakers including Lim Jong-seok and Woo Sang-ho (June 8); the withdrawal of 16 lawmakers including Mun Hui-sang and Jeong Dae-cheol (June 15); and the withdrawal of 15 lawmakers including Yoo In-tae and Song Yeong-gil (July 24). Now the Uri Party is the number three party in the National Assembly with 58 seats as of August 6.

Dependency-

The future of the Uri Party will be very much dependent on the New Democratic Party. The Uri Party appointed Kim Yeong-chun, its secretary-general, as a representative to the negotiating table with the New Democratic Party, but the merger talks are currently shut down. Because the Uri Party doesn’t have a negotiating partner yet: the Democratic Party did not form an organization for handling a merger.

Inside the New Democratic Party, it seems that people are leaning toward merging with the Uri Party first, but there is a growing voice that it should not take the Democratic Party lightly, saying, “If the party is merged with the Uri Party first, then there is a low possibility for the Democratic Party to join the new party, which will lead to a “semi-grand integration.”

It was pointed out that Oh Chung-il, the representative of the New Democratic Party, was aware of this matter. Regarding the declaration of a merger with the Uri Party the previous day, he said in a press conference, “Things will be handled by an organization for the merger. Please forget and ignore what has been said so far.”

One of the pan-ruling party officials said, “The future of the Uri Party, which said something about a centennial party, is now on the hands of the new party of which future is not secure after the presidential election.”

mindy@donga.com