Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has proposed lowering the threshold for forming a negotiating bloc in the National Assembly to 15 seats from the current 20, opening talks on uniting the progressive camp. Kim said he had already discussed the plan with progressive parties, but the Rebuilding Korea Party immediately demanded a further reduction to 10 seats, leaving it unclear whether the proposal will lead to an actual alliance.
"We will fully launch an all-out grand unification drive," Kim said at a supreme council meeting held at Daejeon City Hall on the 16th. "I understand that Rep. Park Beom-kye, who heads the grand unification committee, will begin making contact in earnest with the three progressive parties and the Rebuilding Korea Party starting today." He added, "We have already held talks with each progressive party around issues such as easing the negotiating bloc requirement, introducing runoff voting, reasonable adjustments to the electoral system and consolidating candidates for competitiveness."
Earlier, Kim said in an appearance on the program "Minty 07" that "having heard the views of each party, they appear to consider around 15 seats realistic and acceptable as a starting point," adding that "if the progressive parties other than the Democratic Party all combine, forming a negotiating bloc is possible." Kim's plan is to use institutional changes that expand the influence of non-bloc parties in the National Assembly — including the Progressive Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Basic Income Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party — by easing the bloc requirement as the starting point for an alliance.
The Rebuilding Korea Party, however, immediately pushed back, saying Kim's 15-seat proposal cannot be seen as a benchmark for political reform. Cho Kuk, head of the party's Innovation Policy Institute, said on Facebook that day that "the 20-seat standard for a negotiating bloc in the National Assembly is a relic of the Yushin era, introduced by Park Chung-hee's dictatorship in 1973 to squeeze the opposition." He argued that "lowering this standard to 10 seats is a 'normalization' that corrects a distorted parliamentary democracy."
The Democratic Party, for its part, says it will widen the scope of discussion. Asked about the Rebuilding Korea Party's demand for a 10-seat threshold, chief spokesperson Park Sung-joon said, "Because the forum for discussion has only just opened, there will be ample room for further discussion."
