The Democratic Party of Korea held a caucus to discuss a merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party and concluded it would be difficult to push it through before the local elections. Democratic Party lawmakers, citing growing internal conflict over the merger issue, asked the party leadership to wrap up the discussion quickly.
Park Soo-hyun, the Democratic Party chief spokesperson, told reporters after a caucus at the National Assembly on the 10th that "even if the proposal to merge with the Rebuilding Korea Party stems from a genuine intention to support the Lee Jae-myung administration's success in state affairs, we shared the understanding that the process is ending up in conflict."
He added, "Lawmakers generally said there is justification for pursuing a merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party, but it would be difficult to push ahead, and they demanded that the supreme council swiftly make a decision reflecting the caucus outcome," and said, "Chair Jung Chung-rae responded that he would confer closely with the supreme council members and reach a conclusion in line with the caucus result."
Democratic Party lawmakers largely agreed on the need for a merger but reportedly questioned the timing. Arguments to move immediately on the merger and claims that a merger would not be necessary even after the local elections were said to be minority views.
The caucus was said to have proceeded in a restrained atmosphere. About 20 lawmakers from the party took the podium. The party leadership, including the party chair and supreme council members, limited itself to listening to the lawmakers' views.
Kang Joon-hyun, a Democratic Party lawmaker, told reporters during the caucus, "Because Chair Jung heard from first-termers, second-termers and senior members, the debate between pros and cons is not fierce," adding, "In any case, the consensus is to reach a conclusion today." Kim Moon-soo of the same party also said, "There are many opinions to halt further discussion."
Senior lawmaker Park Ji-won of the Democratic Party proposed putting off the merger talks until after the local elections. Park told reporters, "On top of everything, the issue of recommending a special prosecutor (Jeon Jun-cheol) has overlapped, and on this (merger) we should step back," adding, "Because there is also the matter of centrist outreach, the idea is to adjust well, take a breather and move forward."
The Democratic Party plans to hold a closed-door supreme council meeting this afternoon to finalize its position on a merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party. Chief spokesperson Park said, "There will be a process of formally explaining it to the public and party members."