Name change for Uri

The Grand Unification Democratic New Party announced it will merge with the Uri Party.
When this happens, the Uri Party will have shut down three years and nine months after it was established. But this is only a cheap trick. The Uri Party simply changed its name because it had been abandoned by the people. It could not compete in this year’s presidential election and next year’s general elections, so it is attempting to fool the people.
Let’s take a careful look inside the new party. Among the total 143 members, 138, or nearly 97 percent, are former Uri Party members. The other five are former Democrats. Sohn Hak-kyu, the former governor of Gyeonggi, joined the new party after he left the Grand National Party.
He belonged to the main opposition party for 14 years but bolted from it since he had a slim chance of winning the party primary. Only a few figures from progressive civic groups who were close to the incumbent government joined the new party.
These people have created a stir over the past seven months by leaving the Uri Party, joining the Democratic Party, leaving that party and finally creating a new party. The Grand Unification Democratic New Party nearly copied the Uri Party’s party platform and constitution.
The reasons have now become clear. They were afraid of being judged by the people as Uri Party members. These lawmakers needed a good excuse to abolish the party’s name.
So they staged a departure from the party. It’s as if they went through a staged divorce with the intent of remarrying later.
To absorb the Uri Party is a trick to deceive the people. The members are the same, and the identity is the same. The Uri Party hasn’t gone anywhere.
The trick of merging does not change the essence of the party. There is only one purpose. They want the people to be confused, to forget the past and to be fooled. They have abandoned the smallest degree of integrity for a political party.
Now presidential hopefuls and lawmakers who used to belong to the Uri Party need to answer this question ― what was all the fuss about when they ended up in the same party they started with?
Figures from civic groups who joined the new party also need to say whether this is the “grand unification” they seek.
We wonder if they truly believe there is a future for progressives when they are ready to do anything in the name of assuming power. The new party and the Uri Party must end this political farce.