“Disband the Party” Say Some Uri Lawmakers

It has been a month since Uri Party lawmakers established a new unified party led by Chung Sye-kyun.

Though Chairman Chung said right after his inauguration that, “We are going to begin implementing substantial unification and peace, reform and future-oriented policies,” his hopes have not been realized yet.

In contrast, some of lawmakers requested he disband the party.

“The party should disband”-

Some lawmakers, including Jung Bong-ju and Moon Hak-jin, plan to have a breakfast meeting and hold a press conference requesting party leaders to dismantle the party on March 15.

Regarding the request to disband the party, Moon said, “A worrying mood has been formed in the party due to the recent South-North issues which seem to be getting better recently. We are not trying to leave the party but trying to arouse attention toward a more worrying mood.”

Chung said he will get lawmakers’ signatures on the defection agenda and submit a document demanding the party disband, adding, “There are about 30 lawmakers who have the same intention, but 20 signatures will be on the document.”

Moreover, he said, “The phrase ‘dissolving the party’ will probably be added to the document even though the intensity of the words on the document will be les than originally intended.”

The Uri Party selected 15 among 100 employees from the secretariat of the central Uri Party as the cost of the unification. First, the party allowed voluntarily resignations, but not many employees have applied to do so.

The party plans to post a final list of personnel who are targeted for dismissal, but final approval rests with Mr. Chung.

One of the reasons why the party is trying to reconstruct itself is to reduce its size for the unification process. Decreasing national subsidies is one of the other reasons causing the withdrawal of some lawmakers who once declared for the new unified party and the meetings addressing public welfare and politics.

An official said, “There have not been any appraisals on attitudes. Aside from the reconstruction process, the test was abruptly conducted.”

Due to the uneasy looks of some in the party, some workers who are not faced with the threat of being fired as part of the reconstruction process are considering giving in their resignations voluntarily, saying, “There’s no hope.”

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