DP, Ahn set up committee to form new party

The independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo and Democratic Party Chairman Kim Han-gill yesterday agreed on the blueprint for the speedy creation of a new coalition party.

In a closed-door meeting between the two political leaders, which ran through yesterday afternoon, they decided that the former presidential candidate Ahn would be the sole head of the preparatory committee tasked with forming the new party.

Once the new party is established, Kim and Ahn will jointly chair it, spokesmen for the DP and Ahn’s New Political Vision Party said.

A portion of the members of each party will work to launch the coalition party. They will be joined by the rest of the members once the party is formed, the spokesmen added.

Rather than the DP dispersing, it will instead merge with the newly formed party. The two sides also agreed on five major points for the creation of the new party.

They agreed that “new politics will be the focus” of the party, a policy that has long been advocated by Ahn.

“As the old-timer opposition party, the DP has to make concessions,” Kim was quoted as insisting in the talks.

The preparation committee will be subdivided into subcommittees for political vision, platform policy, party constitution, general affairs and state affairs, they said.

It will begin to announce more specific visions for “new politics” next week, they added.

On March 2, DP leaders and Ahn’s political faction, tentatively named the New Political Vision Party, announced a surprise political merger to form a united party before the June 4 local elections, as a way to present a united front against the ruling Saenuri Party.

Ahn became a first-term National Assembly lawmaker last April by winning a by-election to represent the Nowon B District.

BY SARAH KIM [sarahkim@joongang.co.kr]