hankyoreh

By Seong Yeon-cheol

Former Liberty Forward Party leader Lee Hoi-chang said on Friday that he had rejected a proposal for integration from the Saenuri Party. 
　


“Saenuri Party floor leader Hwang Woo-yea came to see me after the Lunar New Year public holiday and suggested a party merger, but I flatly refused it,” Lee said in an interview with MBN. “The aim of the Liberty Forward Party is to break the two-party structure and secure a position as a sound third party, and Hwan's suggestion went against the party's aim.” 
　


In response to a question on the possibility of a meeting with Saenuri Party emergency committee chairwoman Park Geun-hye, Lee said, “She would have to meet with party leader Sim Dae-pyung, not with me. I told [floor leader Hwang], too, to go and see Sim if he wanted to take discussions forward.” Regarding the possibility of an alliance for the general election, Lee said, “I don't think it would work. The best thing is for each party to make its own effort. The Saenuri Party is widening its fence so the direction is wrong, and it's inconvenient that there are a lot of rumors when there has been no specific talk of an alliance.” 
　


Party leader Sim Dae-pyung, speaking on KBS radio on the same day, said, “Would the public really be stirred by belated suggestions of a conservative alliance or party merger for the election in a situation where progressive forces have already formed an alliance for election victory? If conservative unity and the elimination of the two-party structure are necessary, the Saenuri Party needs to review the composition of the election in terms of the big picture and not field candidates in the Chungcheong region.” 
　


The Saenuri, too, appears not to be positively disposed toward an election alliance with the Liberty Forward Party. “We believe the various aspects of our candidates that have applied for nomination to run in the Chungcheong region are better than those of the current Liberty Forward Party lawmakers,” said one Saenuri official. “It seems that, at the moment, an alliance with the Liberty Forward Party is both unlikely to happen and not urgently needed.”

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