Rebuilding Korea Party calls on new Democratic Party leadership to form liberal-progressive consultative body

Shin Jang-sik, leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, called on Kim Min-seok and the newly elected Democratic Party of Korea leadership to "remember the original spirit of the day people raised their light sticks," proposing the formation of a substantive consultative body encompassing the liberal and progressive camps.

Speaking at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Tuesday, Shin said, "If the so-called Council of Light — bringing together the Rebuilding Korea Party, the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party and the Social Democratic Party under the Democratic Party's leadership — is revived, the hearts of the people who raised their light sticks will once again unite at 100 percent."

Shin said he believed the core challenge facing the ruling bloc was a "trust risk," adding that "people are questioning whether the Lee Jae Myung government is becoming a government of the Democratic Party alone. The Democratic Party must respect the Rebuilding Korea Party as a partner."

He said solidarity and integration "must serve reform and the advancement of South Korea," warning that "an unprincipled integration that seeks to embrace everything — one that dims the light of the three major reforms pledged in the light-stick plaza — will not help South Korea succeed."