(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jeong-jin = The Fatherland Innovation Party is focusing on differentiating itself from the Democratic Party of Korea by emphasizing self-reliance after the launch of the leadership of Shin Jang-sik.
On major issues such as prosecution reform, they appear to be trying to secure their own support base and political space by claiming to be the 'red team' of the government and ruling party.
However, as public clashes with the Democratic Party become more frequent in this process, restoring trust is expected to become a major task ahead of full-scale solidarity and integration discussions between the two parties.
As soon as he took office last July, Representative Shin came up with a 'self-reliance theory'.
He emphasized at the time, "I will open the path to self-reliance with strong roots," and "only by self-reliance can we properly achieve solidarity."
It was interpreted as a remark containing a sense of crisis that if the Innovation Party, which is struggling with a low approval rating, cannot strengthen itself, it may be at a disadvantage in the 'battle for shares' when discussing solidarity with the Democratic Party.
Ahead of this regular session of the National Assembly, carrying out 'People's Livelihood Cavalry' activities under the banner of 'Bulssajo' (the Fatherland Innovation Party that fights inequality) is also part of the self-reliance policy.
As the Innovation Party focuses on strengthening itself, it is becoming more frequent to turn a blind eye to the ruling party.
A representative example is the public opposition to the nomination of Kim Ji-yong, a former prosecutor general, as the first candidate for the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, calling it a “wrong appointment.”
It was evaluated as a passage that clearly revealed the Innovation Party's strategy of attacking the 'left field' by emphasizing its clear reform spirit in opposition to the government and ruling party with a moderate and pragmatic line.
Regarding the government's 'three major mega projects', Representative Shin recently said, "There are many problems in the process," and "we will provide both criticism and support."
The problem is that it is difficult to say that the Innovation Party's efforts to strengthen itself have led to a clear expansion of its support base.
Even after the June 3 local elections, the Innovation Party's approval rating generally remains in the 2-4% range in various opinion polls.
The conflict between the two parties, which deepened after the June 3 local elections, has not been healed.
When the Blue House selected former lawmaker Lee Hae-min, who was a member of the Innovation Party, as senior secretary for AI future planning, there seemed to be a green light for improved relations between the two parties, but that was it.
The Innovation Party strongly opposed the appointment of former lawmaker Kim Yong-nam as the permanent vice-chairman of the policy committee under the leadership of Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok. Former lawmaker Kim is a person who competed with Cho Kuk, director of the Innovation Policy Research Institute, in the June 3 local elections.
In response, Representative Shin strongly criticized this, saying, “It goes against the president’s message of solidarity and unity.”
Recently, there has been a battle between the two parties over the requirements for forming an in-house negotiating group.
When Democratic Party leader Kim proposed lowering the requirements for forming an in-house negotiating group from the current 20 to 15 as a way to unite progressive political forces, the Innovation Party, which has 12 seats, countered, saying, "It should be lowered to 10 seats."
The Innovation Party is particularly displeased with the Democratic Party's continued public mention of merger and negotiation group issues without prior consultation for solidarity and integration discussions.
Representative Shin emphasized that he has never had any official or unofficial contact with the Democratic Party's leadership as well as the Democratic Party's 'Grand Unification Promotion Team' and pointed out, "The way in which non-agreed issues are published in the media as if they were agreed upon is actually a trap for restoring trust."
In the end, the Innovation Party must expand its political influence by differentiating itself from the Democratic Party while also seeking to restore a relationship of trust for solidarity and integration between the two parties in the future.
As Representative Shin cited the by-elections in April next year as a major watershed in the relationship between the two parties, the future election solidarity and negotiation group discussions are expected to be a test bed to gauge the performance of the self-reliance strategy and the direction of the relationship with the Democratic Party.
