FKTU to Create Political Party

By Heo Yong-beom (heo@chosun.com), The Chosun Ilbo, 5 September 2002 17:51 KST

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) announced a plan to create its own political party in a symposium themed The choice of Korean Workers and Reformative People’s Party held Thursday in the National Assembly Memorial Hall.

The umbrella union plans to create a central party by November and to be actively involved in the presidential election. It said it would finalize the decision on whether to produce a candidate or not shortly.

This will be the second labor oriented party, following the Democratic Labor Party affiliation with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

As to relations with the Democratic Labor Party, FKTU Presidential Election Planning Team manger Park Dong said the new party and the DLP were complementary to each other, adding he would negotiate the matter of integrating the two if deemed appropriate.