The Rebuilding Korea Party on the 16th elected Rep. Kim Jun-hyung as its new floor leader. In his inaugural remarks, Kim expressed a willingness to cooperate for the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration and the completion of its reform agenda, while drawing a line against engineering-based political alliances or a merger.
The Rebuilding Korea Party held a general meeting of its lawmakers that day and elected Rep. Kim Jun-hyung as the new floor leader. Kim took the post by unanimous consent of all 12 members. Following Reps. Hwang Un-ha and Seo Wang-jin, he is the third floor leader since the start of the 22nd National Assembly.
As his first message after taking office, Kim said, "We must again join forces for the restoration of democracy and livelihoods, the complete liquidation of the insurrectionary forces, and the success of the Lee Jae-myung administration, a government of popular sovereignty," adding, "In that process, the Rebuilding Korea Party will by no means evade its responsibility."
However, Kim said, "If it is in the context of political engineering and power struggles, we will reject any alliance, let alone a merger." He added, "We may be smaller than the Democratic Party, but our sincerity and our dreams are not small," and "We refuse to be treated recklessly."
Immediately after the general meeting, Kim met with reporters and, when asked about steps toward alliance or integration with the Democratic Party, said, "An alliance or merger within the broader pro-government camp is always an unavoidable topic for us, and elections are always decided by 3–4% in the current political landscape," and, regarding the merger talks raised in Jan. between the Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party, added, "A merger is a sensitive issue, but (the Rebuilding Korea Party) was exposed defenselessly, and it seems the Democratic Party unilaterally raised it from the outside without any intense internal deliberation or party-to-party discussion."
He went on to say, "If it is for the same purpose of the democratic and progressive reform camp, we can consider a merger as much as needed, but if it is for political engineering or for power struggles within the Democratic Party, I consider it highly insulting," adding, "We will watch the Democratic Party's upcoming national convention and so on, and discussions could emerge when the timing and conditions have matured."