Rep. Kim Min-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is running in the August 17 party convention, on the 8th took aim at Rep. Jeong Cheong-rae over the collapse of a merger with the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, saying, “It literally turned into a bombshell-style declaration,” and, “That is what botched the effort.” Kim stated that if elected party leader, he would establish a body dedicated to integration, alliance, and expansion.

In an interview that day on the YouTube channel <It Is Hard to Be Humble, Kim Eo-jun’s News Factory>, Kim said, “Had I been the party leader or in the leadership at the time, I would not have handled the merger issue that way.”

Kim said, “Traditionally, mergers in our party begin with discussions raised by the strategy chief or other working-level units, proceed through deliberations within the leadership, and are finalized through a process of public debate,” adding, “It is a highly volatile matter, and if you are going to resolve it, both on principle and politically, that is the kind of judgment that should be made.”

Kim said, “In politics there is always the temptation of overreach,” and, “Trying to settle (the merger) by declaring it was overreach.” He added, “Consciously or not, that desire working beneath the surface ended up being detrimental,” and, “The whole thing became tangled.”

Kim said, “We must pursue integration, alliance, and expansion simultaneously,” and, “If I become party leader, the very next day I will establish a body for integration, alliance, and expansion.”

He said, “In the past, under party president Kim Dae-jung, when groups with the same (Democratic Party) roots had temporarily split, that was a case for integration, whereas what we do now with the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Social Democratic Party is alliance,” adding, “Creating the New Millennium Democratic Party and massively recruiting centrist-conservative figures to reshape the party was expansion.” He added, “Without (integration, alliance, and expansion), we cannot win the general election.”

Asked whether the Innovation Party is an object of integration or of alliance, Kim said, “That is for the Cho Kuk Innovation Party to decide,” and, “To be frank, I have rarely thought of the (Innovation Party) as a progressive party with an identity and platform different from the Democratic Party.”

He said, “I am sorry, but legally speaking, (a merger with the Innovation Party) could only be an absorption merger,” and, “Like with other parties, it could proceed as a unit of alliance, or as talks on joining (the Democratic Party), but I think it is best for the Innovation Party to sort out that question.”