By ANDY JACKSON
Marmot?????s Hole Guest Blogger
I posted a while ago about a new party being formed in Chungcheong . It looks like they have now made it official:
The Governor of South Chungcheong Province Sim Dae-pyung announced yesterday the launch of a new political party pledging that it will be a representative voice for the country’s central regions.
“Political decentralization, which will allow the Seoul Metropolitan area and other provincial regions to prosper together in harmony rather than compete against each other causing greater disparity in regional development, will be the main platform of the new party,” Shin wrote in a pre-released statement.
In a press conference held at an office in Yeouido, which will be the headquarters of the new party tentatively named “People’s Central Party,” Governor Sim set in motion a preparation committee together with three maverick lawmakers Shin Kook-hwan, Ryu Keun-chan and Chung Jin-seok.
Shin Kook-hwan is an independent serving Mungyeong and Yecheon down in North Gyeongsang-do. This could be the closest Mungyeong has had to having politcal clout since Mungyeong’s own Gyeon Hwon ruled the short-lived kingdom of Hubaekche.
They seem to have a pretty strong base from which to expand so they could make things interesting. One weak spot is that they failed to bring what is left of the United Liberal Democrats on board. If they can’t do that then they may be in trouble.
9 Comments
Josh,
Being the campaign vehicle of Goh Gun, my best guess is that they are center-right. But they are billing themselves specifically as a Chungcheon-based party. Perhaps they plan to rule as part of coalition with the GNP (kind of like the Christian Social Union in Germany).
Andy, Whose votes will this new party take away? Does it have an ideology–I mean as opposed to a geography?
I did not know that Kyonhwon was from Mun’gyong!
Uh, isn’t Goh Kun an Uri “moderate?” You’re talking about the guy who took office during the impeachment, right?
Goh is certainly a moderate, having served under Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. He is basically a bureaucrat. I guess I would call him center with just a dash of right (he resigned last year after refusing to follow what he regarded as an inappropriate order from Roh).
So in other words, he’s Park Geun-Hye, only with ethics. Sounds like the GNP needs principles more than ever.
Goh is certainly a moderate, having served under Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.
Don’t forget Park Chung Hee!
I blogged the subject a little, but I think the party would have to merge with the Democratic Party to get Goh to run. I think it would not, could not, field him on its own.
Also, as best I can tell the new party has not actually announced a date for a party founding convention, and that they’ve only officially announced that they will be officially forming a party. If that’s the case, they might be waiting to merge with the Democrats.
As I mentioned in my post, they Chungcheong people are now housed in the very same building in Mapo as the Democrats are.
I saw on the news last night that Goh was at the opening of the new Democratic party office yesterday. I take that as a pretty strong sign that he is going to run as a fusion candidate for the Democrats and the “People Centered” party.
GohGun seems to be a “pragmatic” person, as he claimed that as priority today.
Either LeeMyengBak or GohGun will do much better job than present day college dropouts who are drenched with pro-North propagada.
In any case, the Uri(pig sty)party will be gone.