Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok said on the 12th that his party "will take the path of grand unification, embracing progressive parties and individuals, centrist individuals, and those who are conservative yet reasonable and capable."
Speaking at an "Open Day" event hosted by the party's Pyeongtaek-B district committee, Kim said, "The Democratic Party will take the path of the eldest brother among progressive parties, one that forms a structural majority by embracing conservatives and centrists. We will build alliances and hold talks with progressive reform parties and center-right forces."
"We will form alliances with parties such as the Social Democratic Party, the Progressive Party and the Basic Income Party, and with the Rebuilding Korea Party we will discuss and decide whether to pursue a merger or an alliance," he said. "Whether we merge or ally, the overriding principle is competitiveness."
He added: "The era of carving up stakes is over. That is old politics. Even if our party forms an alliance with another party, the single candidacy will be settled on competitiveness, and within the party as well, candidates will be chosen on competitiveness."
Pyeongtaek-B is the district where Rep. Yoo Eui-dong of the People Power Party won the June 3 by-election after a three-way race that included Kim Yong-nam, chair of the Democratic Party's Pyeongtaek-B district committee, and Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Institute, split the votes of progressive and Democratic supporters.
Kim used the occasion to throw his weight behind the district chair, who had competed against Cho. Shortly after taking office as party leader, Kim appointed Kim Yong-nam as a standing vice chair of the party's policy committee.
"The thinking of the government and the party is not to use people who were in the conservative camp during the last presidential election and then be done with them, but to bring in capable, good people and broaden the horizons of politics," Kim said. "The idea is to create a wide field that encompasses progressive reform through to the center-right."
"In that respect, we expect people like the district chair to play a bigger role in our politics, our party and our government, and we will help make that happen," he added. "We expect him to practice politics in Pyeongtaek that understands both growth and care for the community."
"The current state of national affairs is somewhat more difficult than it was a year ago, when the term had just begun. Support for the president, the government and the ruling party has fallen from where it started," Kim said. "In the end, the foundation of politics is people's livelihoods, and reviving livelihoods is the only and the correct answer to overcoming this situation."
