Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party Innovation Policy Institute, said on the 13th on Facebook, "Since the launch of the Kim Min-seok leadership, there have been no proposals from the Democratic Party for either a merger or an alliance," adding, "Therefore, there has been no demand for equity and no discussions."
He was voicing displeasure over Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok's remark the previous day at a district committee event in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, about the issue of a merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party, saying, "The era of dividing up equity is over, and the overarching principle is competitiveness." Cho also called the remark "insulting."
Cho wrote on Facebook that day, "Neither I nor the Rebuilding Korea Party have ever demanded 'equity,' whether during the April 10 general election, when the Democratic Party proposed a merger, or during the June 3 election." He went on, "During the April 10 general election, the Democratic Party pushed the 'all-in theory' and urged people not to cast their proportional votes for the Rebuilding Korea Party; it attacked the Rebuilding Korea Party, which had received a merger proposal, with the 'secret deal theory' and 'red-baiting'; and during the June 2 election, it accepted single-candidate arrangements in 13 places while rejecting one in Pyeongtaek."
He continued, "Yesterday, leader Kim Min-seok made it seem as if Cho or the Rebuilding Korea Party had formally or informally demanded equity," adding, "It is a textbook 'straw man' attack to define something as having happened and go on the offensive even though the other side has never made such a claim."