The Korean Democratic Labor Party (KDLP) was overwhelmed in presidential election gaining only 3% of all votes. On Friday (December 21) lawmaker Shim Sang-jung, one of the co-chairpersons of campaign committee, urged the party to “exert full effort to achieve reforms,” and called for “new progressive subjects that can attract people’s expectations.”

“Thorough Setting up New Principles, Not through Extension”

In an appearance at an MBC radio airs that day, Shim diagnosed the KDLP as “insensitive to changes, lacking responsibility, immersed in opposition and criticism rather than providing visions and alternatives, bond of sectarian confrontations and struggles for hegemony,” and said “what is the most important is to overcome the obstacles in practice.”

She called for “renovation of party’s personnel and making political subjects in wider ranges.“ She added “what matters is change in platform, not an extension on the appearance.”

In a response to a question whether the party is going to revise the name of the party and relations with the KCTU, she said “We are not going to take a technologically political approach. We are doing an experiment of rebirth which is aimed at truly representing labor class including up to 8.7 millions of irregular workers, because our party is basically based on labor class.”

“It is needed to go through basic things like strategy on labor class or working class-organizing plans,” she said. The statement can be interpreted that the party should put more focus on irregular workers in a move to establish the party’s own strategy independent from the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which has been the biggest basement of the party and has trouble going beyond ‘unions of large companies and regular workers’.

“Defeat Is Largely Due to the Internal Factors.”

A landslide victory of the rightist, the Grand National Party candidate Lee Myung-Bak and unattached candidate Lee Hoi-Chang, the former president of the party, gained 63% of votes in all, means people’s “turning backs on the progressive-reformist,” said Shim. She concluded “President Noh betrayed the people who pinned their hope on the progressive. He allowed the use of irregular workers in large scale, made conclusion of the FTA with the US, and dispatched troops to Iraq. All these things are definitely not what people expected him to do. People had showed signal of warning in the past elections, but they didn’t reflect their attitude. Finally people judged their ignorance.”

Shim said “We initially intended to make this election a competition between the GNP and us excluding the pseudo-progressives, the ruling party,” and “but, in addition that we couldn’t succeed to be the meaningful alternative power, we failed to be people’s hope even for next generations. That’s why we are so shocked by the result.”

“We should consider the main factors that bring the party into crisis as internal, not external, ones,” and “one can point the fingers on fails in campaign strategy in short terms, but in the perspective of long term strategies, the party members are recognizing systemic problems.”

Shim said “A nation gives us hard times, we don’t think people are denying the necessity of progressive party or giving away the expectation of alternative groups,” and “what is the most important in relation with the prospect of the progressive party is that the party should change itself in response to the demand of the people.”

Candidate Kwon, Absent in the Ceremony of Disbanding Campaign Committee

The party officially disbanded the campaign committee that day in the headquarters of the party in Mun-rae Dong. Former candidate Kwon is known to take a rest somewhere and will not participate in the ceremony.

Instead, Kwon sent a short message that he would humbly accept the choice of the people as a judgment on him and the party. In the message he said “I’m sorry to party members and supporters. I’ll do my best as an ordinary party member from now on.”

On December 20, the party had decided to hold off all the process for 2008 election for party officials including party nomination of proportional representatives that was destined to be held. Instead, it would call a central committee meeting on December 29 to discuss over analysis of presidential election and how to come to grips with the situation. Some members allegedly called for the leadership to quit. The leadership, however, would reportedly maintain for some time, because there were no alternatives and general election hanging over the party.