Two Lees part way as alternative party's 'big tent' deflates

Former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and former People Power Party (PPP) head Lee Jun-seok, co-chairs of the New Reform Party, parted ways Tuesday just 11 days after forming a merger.

The co-chairs of the splinter “big-tent” New Reform Party, former People Power Party (PPP) head Lee Jun-seok, left, and former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, announce Tuesday they will go separate ways just 11 days after forming a merger. They held separate press conferences, with the former prime minister holding a press conference in his party’s headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, and the former PPP leader speaking to reporters one hour later at the National Assembly. [YONHAP]

Former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and former People Power Party (PPP) head Lee Jun-seok, co-chairs of the New Reform Party, parted ways Tuesday just 11 days after forming a merger.

The two politicians clashed over leadership despite forming a coalition of their splinter parties to form a so-called "big tent" party after defecting from their respective parties to create an alternative to the mainstream majority liberal Democratic Party (DP) and the conservative People Power Party (PPP).

Lee Nak-yon, a former DP chairman, announced a return to his original splinter party - the New Future Party - in a press conference Tuesday, as the two co-chairs were at odds over who held the authority to oversee the party's campaign ahead of the April 10 general elections.

"We have no choice but to return to how it was before the integration agreement," Lee said at the New Future Party headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul. "We will reorganize the party and quickly establish an election system."

Last month, Lee Nak-yon defected from the DP after disillusionment with the leadership of current chief Lee Jae-myung and formed the New Future Party with other liberal politicians.

Amid speculation over whether former Prime Minister Lee would be able to unite other minor parties ahead of the parliamentary elections, he joined hands with the New Reform Party (NRP) led by Lee Jun-seok, who had similarly defected from the PPP, on Feb. 9.

However, the two sides were on a collision course, as they didn't see eye-to-eye on who holds authority over the party's election campaign and policies.

The New Reform Party, in a supreme council meeting on Monday, granted authority for Lee Jun-seok to oversee the party's campaigns and policies ahead of the parliamentary elections, just 50 days away. Lee Nak-yon and Kim Jong-min, a supreme council member, fiercely opposed this decision and walked out of the meeting.

During his press conference, Lee Nak-yon apologized to the people and party members but promised to fight more fiercely to prevent President Yoon Suk Yeol's PPP from securing a majority of seats.

Lee plans to "break the monopolistic political structure of the two major incompetent and corrupt parties and create a full-fledged alternative political party that protects the nation and the people before politicians."

He then said he would establish a "real democratic party to replace the Democratic Party, which is weighed down by moral and legal issues and has fallen to becoming a one-man party, making it difficult to keep a check on the government."

Lee Jun-seok held a separate press conference an hour later confirming the split, focusing less on pointing fingers and saying he is taking time to reflect on whether he had been too rash and overconfident regarding the merger.

"I apologize to the people with a devastated heart," Lee Jun-seok said in a separate press conference an hour later. "Today, rather than making loud statements about the future, I offer words of humble reflection to the people."

He said he had much to reflect on, saying he had been "arrogant with excessively self-confident."

He stressed that he would ensure that the New Reform Party proves to be a good alternative choice through its quality policies and clear messages.

He wished the best to Lee Nak-yon and his party, indicating room for some cooperation in the future.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]