Kim Gi-hyeon, Yoon Sang-hyun and Han Dong-hoon speak with one voice on 'party reform,' stress politics of addition

[Financial News] People Power Party lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon and Yoon Sang-hyun, along with independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, stressed on the 3rd the need to achieve a 'grand conservative unity' to fight the ruling camp and begin work on party reform.
The three lawmakers held a forum titled 'Party Reform: What Should Be Done and How?' that day at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, in cooperation with the Korean Association of Party Studies. Attendees included the three lawmakers; lawmakers Joo Ho-young, Kim Seok-gi, Shin Seong-beom, Lee Man-hee, Kwon Young-jin, Kim Hyung-dong, Park Jeong-ha, Bae Hyun-jin, Jo Eun-hee, Koh Dong-jin, Kim Geon, Park Jung-hoon, Seo Myeong-ok, Ahn Sang-hoon, Woo Jae-jun and Han Ji-a; Supreme Council member Yang Hyang-ja; former lawmakers Shin Ji-ho, Oh Shin-hwan and Shin Gyeong-min; and former Supreme Council member Kim Jong-hyuk.
Kim Gi-hyeon first stressed the need for a politics of addition. He also expressed the view that the People Power Party should not become preoccupied solely with the views of its members. 'I'm concerned that parties may become aligned with fandoms and grow distant from the public,' Kim said. 'The essence of party reform is to gather the views of party members and the public without dividing them into camps.'
'Party members are the party's backbone, but the public's trust is also a fundamental reason for the party's existence,' he said. 'The task of our time is to design a system that allows party members' views and public opinion to move in the same direction, and to make party democracy function on that basis.'
Kim also stressed that the party leadership's self-interest must not influence the nomination process. 'A fair, system-based nomination process free of self-interest can restore trust in the party,' he said. 'Efforts must be made to minimize and eliminate (self-interest).’
Yoon Sang-hyun argued that the so-called 'Oh-Dong-Seok (Oh Se-hoon, Han Dong-hoon and Lee Jun-seok) alliance' should be made a reality. 'The Lee Jae Myung government is suppressing freedom, hollowing out democracy and bringing down republicanism, while (the conservative opposition) is fighting separately. The People Power Party, the Reform Party and independent Han Dong-hoon are fighting separately,' Yoon said. 'We need to pool our energy and create synergy.'
Yoon also proposed a 'BTS (Band Together Stronger) alliance.' 'We can win only by building a big conservative tent,' he said, urging, 'I hope Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok will also show leadership in opening a platform for grand conservative unity.'
'An alliance of values and vision is just as important as an alliance among individuals,' he continued. 'Sharing values and vision and creating a common agenda and rules is true grand conservative unity.'
'More of the taxes paid by the public than party dues goes toward running a political party. In effect, it is a public corporation,' Han Dong-hoon said. 'A structure has emerged in which a handful of people hold sway over public corporations, and a party that does not follow the spirit of republicanism cannot criticize the Democratic Party.'
'Under the current distorted structure, depending on who holds control of the party, people with a chance of winning are unable to run in elections,' Han said. 'Reforming that is what party reform is about.'
As a solution, he proposed enshrining 'bottom-up nominations' in law. 'We have to overcome the fear that we could be unfairly excluded from nominations depending on who takes control of the party, and the fear that extreme fandom politics could make us a prime target for exclusion,' Han said. 'Bottom-up nominations should be enshrined in law for parties that receive state subsidies.'

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