Future Korea Party Explained

Future Korea Party
Native Name:미래한국당
Native Name Lang:ko
Abbreviation:FKP
Founder:Han Sun-kyo
Founded:5 February 2020
Dissolved:29 May 2020
Split:Liberty Korea Party[1]
Merged:United Future Party
Membership Year:2020
Position:Right-wing
National:United Future Party
Colours: Pink
Website:miraehanguk.co.kr
Country:South Korea
United Future Party
Rr:Miraehangukdang
Mr:Miraehan'guktang

The Future Korea Party (stylised as Future KOREA Party) was a political party in South Korea formed on 5 February 2020.

History

The party was formed as a satellite party to the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) in order to run for the proportional seats in the 2020 elections, taking advantage of the new electoral law. The party chose the name of Proportional Liberty Korea Party (Korean: 비례자유한국당), emphasizing their relationship with the LKP.[2] However, the National Election Commission disallowed parties from using "Proportional (비례)" in their names,[3] which forced the party to adopt the current name. The party chose "Future (미래 Mirae)" that is pronounced similar to "Proportional (비례 Birye)".[4]

On 5 February 2020, the party took the official formation convention and elected Han Sun-kyo as its President by acclamation, while Cho Hun-hyun was named the Secretary-General.[5] [6] [7] All of its MPs were originally LKP MPs who declared they would not seek re-election at the 2020 election.[5] [6] [7] Once the LKP combined forces with the New Conservative Party (NCP) and formed the United Future Party (UFP), one NCP MP also joined the Future Korea Party.

The party, however, soon faced a conflict with the UFP due to issues related to candidate selection for the upcoming general election, which led the party leadership to collapse on 19 March.[8] The next day, former UFP MP Won Yoo-chul was elected as the new President, and started the candidate selection process all over again.[9]

Following the 2020 elections, discussions were underway to merge or absorb the Future Korea Party back into the United Future Party, as its original task of obtaining new compensatory proportional seats in the election was complete.[10] On 22 May, the party declared its merger with the UFP by 29 May.[11] 6 days later, the party officially declared its merger into the UFP.[12]

Criticism

Though the UFP considered this party as its sister party,[7] it was widely criticised as a satellite party[5] [7] or "decoy party" intended to take advantage of (and nullify the intended proportionality of) the new electoral law allocating some seats in a compensatory manner. The LKP's decision to establish this party was condemned by the ruling Democratic Party, Bareunmirae Party, New Alternatives and Justice Party, while the New Conservative Party kept silent.[5] The Democratic Party declared it would file a lawsuit against the party.[7] Oh Tae-yang, one of the co-Presidents of the Our Future, broke into the party's convention and urged them to dissolve themselves.[13] The Platform Party also criticized the foundation of the Future Korea Party, despite Platform being itself a satellite of the Democratic Party of Korea.[14]

References

  1. News: Conservative parties launch united bloc. The Korea Times. Kang Seung-woo. 17 February 2020.
  2. News: 2 January 2020. ko: 한국당 비례정당 명칭 '비례자유한국당'. https://www.yna.co.kr/view/MYH20200102009300038. 5 February 2020. ko. Yonhap News Agency.
  3. News: 13 January 2020. ko: [1보] 선관위 "비례○○당 명칭 사용 불허". https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20200113123400001. 5 February 2020. ko. Yonhap News Agency.
  4. News: 18 January 2020. ko: '비례' 못 쓰면…발음 비슷한 '미래한국당'. https://imnews.imbc.com/replay/2020/nwtoday/article/5651981_32531.html. 5 February 2020. IMBC. ko.
  5. News: 5 February 2020. ko: 닻 올린 미래한국당… 고육책? 꼼수? 하루살이?. http://news.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0014204983&code=61111711&cp=nv. 5 February 2020. ko.
  6. News: 5 February 2020. ko: 미래한국당, 김성찬·조훈현 합류…'원내 7정당'으로 출범. https://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2020020515167699712. 김민우. 5 February 2020. ko.
  7. News: 5 February 2020. ko: 심재철 "미래한국당은 자매...생존의 차원에서". http://www.pressian.com/news/article/?no=276943. 5 February 2020. Pressian. ko. 임경구.
  8. News: 19 March 2020. ko: 한선교 미래한국당 대표 전격사퇴…"가소로운 자들이 개혁 막아"(종합). https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20200319169852001?input=1195m. 19 March 2020. ko. Yonhap News Agency.
  9. News: 20 March 2020. ko: 어제 입당한 원유철, 미래한국당 대표됐다. http://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=205972. 20 March 2020. Media Today. ko.
  10. Web site: Election law should be revised before integration with proportional parties . . 2 May 2020 . 25 April 2020.
  11. News: 22 May 2020. ko: 통합-한국 5월내 합당, 재보궐까지 김종인 비대위(종합). https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20200522082252001?input=1195m. 22 May 2020. ko. Yonhap News Agency.
  12. News: 27 May 2020. ko: [속보]통합당, 미래한국당과 합당 의결…'103석' 제1야당 재편. https://www.donga.com/news/Politics/article/all/20200527/101241698/1. 29 May 2020. ko. The Dong-a Ilbo.
  13. News: 5 February 2020. ko: 미래한국당 창당대회 급반전 시킨 한마디 "가짜정당 해산하십시오". http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002609575. 5 February 2020. ko. OhmyNews.
  14. News: 2 March 2020. 창당선언문. 17 March 2020. 15 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200315222751/http://platformparty.kr/?page_id=23. dead.

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