Party feud persists as mainstream faction remains defiant


The Unified Progressive Party on Monday decided to establish an emergency leadership and call for the resignations of contentious proportional lawmakers-elect in a vote boycotted by hard-line mainstreamers.

The emergency panel will be headed by Rep. Kang Ki-kab, according to the reform measures that passed in an overnight ballot conducted online to avoid further violence.

Of the 912 registered central committee members, 545 participated in the ballot with 541 voting in favor of the package and 536 approving the formation of the emergency committee.

“I will prepare a platform upon which the party can resurrect with determination and resolve to be reborn in a near future,” Kang said at a press conference. The committee will be in charge of organizing a national convention next month to elect a new leadership.

Kang also said he will persuade the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions to continue their support for the party. The KCTU, the party’s biggest backer, warned over the weekend they will revoke their support unless the UPP carries out drastic reforms.

But the factional turmoil was likely to persist as mainstream members claimed the online vote was illegal and invalid.

Mainstream party members violently obstructed the UPP’s central committee meeting on Saturday from voting on the proposed emergency system.

Three of the four co-chairs ― Rhyu Si-min, Sim Sang-jung and Cho Joon-ho ― were forced to leave the meeting venue as the mainstream National Liberation group assaulted them. Another co-chair, Lee Jung-hee, who has been leading the far-left faction, had left prior to the meeting after declaring her resignation.

Cho had on a neck brace, apparently due to injury from the assault.

The prosecutors, who have been dragging their feet in investigating the vote-rigging allegations, set out to investigate the violence at the UPP meeting.

The three held a press conference on Monday morning and declared that the online vote showed support for the party’s reform measures.

“The online voting used at the central committee was an official ballot system that was prepared and managed by the heads of the central committee,” the co-chairs said at the press conference.

“We strongly urge all of the members of the UPP to stay strong around emergency committee chairman Kang Ki-kab,” Sim said.

“Although I return as an ordinary party member, I am not retrieving but offering a promise to continue on with the reform of the progressive politics,” she added.

Feuding in the UPP grew when the party’s internal investigation led by Cho found irregularities in the proportional candidate selection allegedly aimed at placing mainstreamers at the top of the list.

Rhyu, Sim and Cho also dismissed party secretary-general and mainstreamer Jang Won-seob, who allegedly blocked the access to the official UPP website on Sunday to hinder the ballot. The trio also resigned from their posts automatically upon the formation of the emergency committee. Jang also voluntarily announced his resignation soon after.

The mainstreamers, in the meantime, argued the votes were invalid as they were conducted outside the official UPP website, and hinted at legal action.

Non-mainstream members have indicated that the violence joined by some college student members may have been pre-organized.

“We cannot help but speculate that there was an organizational move to overthrow the central committee meeting,” Chun Ho-seon, UPP’s co-spokesperson representing the non-mainstream, told reporters on Sunday.

The UPP won 13 seats in the 19th National Assembly, of which six are considered mainstream members. Four of them have won in their respective constituencies while the two proportional representatives are Lee Seog-gi and Kim Jae-yeon. Both have refused to give up their seats.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)