The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is to withdraw its support for the United Progressive Party (UPP) following a recent spate of scandals that culminated in the infamous violent break up of a party central committee meeting on May 12th.
KCTU leader Kim Young Hun told an MBC Radio program this morning, “It is inevitable that the KCNU will withdraw its support for the United Progressive Party,” adding, “There is no such thing as a perfect political party, but we are in despair at at the backwardness, violence and undemocratic nature that the UPP has shown in the process of solving its problems.”
Kim went on, “We are now looking skeptically at whether the UPP is playing the role of a political party.”
However, Kim said that the withdrawal of support for the UPP does not necessarily mean the departure of KCTU members en masse from the party. “The withdrawal of support and the problem of group defection from the party are separate issues,” he explained. “We will have an in depth discussion about a number of problems, including those of party reform and group defection, during the Central Executive Committee meeting this coming 17th.”
“In the process of the across-the-board review of our basic relations with the party which begins with the withdrawal of support, there could be members who sympathize with the mainstream faction of the party,” he conceded, but emphasized, “However, it will be a small minority. The opinion of most members is that we must solve this problem from common sense and from the point of view of the people.”
