Reform Party denies merger talks with People Power Party and vows to go it alone

South Korea’s Reform Party says it will continue alone after its leadership resigned following a heavy defeat in the June 3 local elections.

Acting leader Chun Ha-ram rejected reports of a merger with the People Power Party at a news conference in the National Assembly on the 31st. He said no one in the Reform Party was pursuing a merger and described the party as the only parliamentary third-zone party outside the two major parties.

“The Reform Party will continue its lonely path rather than make an unjust compromise with vested interests,” Chun said. He also pledged to prepare calmly for a convention to elect new leadership under the party constitution and rules.

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The Reform Party will continue its lonely path rather than make an unjust compromise with vested interests.

The party’s leadership, including Lee Jun-seok, resigned collectively on the 26th to take political responsibility for the local-election defeat. Chun said the party’s independent course would not change.

He also denied reports of a dispute over a so-called southern Gyeonggi strategy. Lee had reportedly encouraged lawmakers to run in southern Gyeonggi in the 2028 general election, but Chun said the idea was not being discussed within the party as an official reform plan. Lee had mentioned it several times as an idea, he said, but it had not been sufficiently discussed among party members.

Chun added that some lawmakers were working hard in their own constituencies. Although southern Gyeonggi includes Lee’s constituency and is considered a strategic area for him, Chun said he remained cautious about discussing the issue publicly.

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No one in the Reform Party is pursuing a merger.