The launch of Lee Nak-yon’s ‘New Future Party’ faces internal strife as key figures Cho Eung-cheon and Lee Won-wook abstain. There are speculations about a potential alliance with Lee Jun-seok’s Reform New Party and leadership disputes.
The former leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Nak-yon, held a founding event for his new party called the ‘New Future Party’ on Feb. 4. However, Representatives Cho Eung-cheon and Lee Won-wook did not attend the event and publicly announced that they will not be joining Lee Nak-yon’s party. It is speculated that ‘The New Reform Party’ led by Lee Jun-seok would join the party instead.
According to party officials, the two representatives had disagreements with Lee Nak-yon, which led to their absence from the founding event.
Lee Nak-yon and others have been in conflict over the new party’s name, the integration with Lee Jun-seok’s Reform New Party, and the leadership structure of the new party. The situation escalated to the point where former Vice Speaker of the National Assembly, Lee Seok-hyun, from Lee Nak-yon’s team, once declared the negotiations to be broken off with Cho and Won-wook.
The initial plan had strongly suggested Cho as the leader of the political party with two responsibilities, one of which was to act as the floor leader.
However, there was a sudden shift towards a co-leadership system with Lee Nak-yon and Kim Jong-min. This unexpected change has led to speculation that the two representatives were dissatisfied and that it eventually led to their departure from Lee Nak-yon’s new party.
