New political party of opposition party

It may look like a “small rebellion” that some 100 former and current party executives and members of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) left the party. It, however, foretells a turmoil as it could mean that the voice of opposition party to create a new party could actually be put into action. Arguing that “NPAD has become a party that is swayed by the vested interest of pro-Rho (pro-Rho Moo-hyun) faction,” they contended, “We will create a national party for the working and middle classes.”

If there’s one thing they didn’t say, it would be that they lost the hearts and minds of Jeolla Province. After Moon Jae-in became the leader of the NPAD, Jeolla provinces have been put aside and the hegemony of pro-Rho has been spread across the party, which affected the defeat of April 29 by-election. A sense of crisis has heightened that those from Jeolla and non-supporters of Roh Moo-hyun would be excluded in the general election next year if this trend continues. As independent lawmaker Chun Jung-bae voluntarily took a pivotal role, NPAD lawmakers such as Kim Han-gil, Park Ju-seon and Kim Dong-cheol, and standing advisor of Jeong Dae-cheol, Supreme Council member Jeong Se-gyun and former Governor Park Jun-yeong of South Jeolla Province are inciting the move.

Political parties have repeatedly reorganized themselves whenever there is a big election regardless of ruling or opposition parties. The same applies to the creation and extinction of the Uri Party and United Liberal Democrats, and reorganization of power and change of party name of NPAD and the Saenuri Party. Some nine months before the general election, the fact that the opposition camp says it will create a new party should be considered as a “constant,” not a variable. Whether it will actually create the new party or not, all this was caused by Moon who failed to show integrated leadership that embraces his fellow lawmakers regardless their support for Roh Moo-hyun, not to mention that he failed to end conflicts among different factions.

The fact that political parties repeatedly reorganize themselves for particular region and figures or for the purpose of winning elections demonstrates how the politics is underdeveloped. The political behavior witnessed during the era of the three-Kims (Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil) is still seen whenever there are elections and this is the telling sign that the progress of democracy is still delayed. In order to fix this outdated political culture, a new political party must have clear vision and value, based on which its members should be gathered. If a new political party is to be created simply because Jeolla Province has been marginalized, pro-Rho is unlikable or one’s political life should be prolonged, the newly-created political party would disappear after it followed the suit of another regional party. It would fail to earn the hearts and minds of people as well if a “former force of democratic reform” tries to break an incumbent party in an effort to bring back the prosperity of good old days.