A high-profile independent lawmaker seeking to create a new political party said Sunday that he will pursue rational reform and lashed out at political polarization.
  

"There is no room for dialogue and compromise" in a political situation where politicians with biased views stigmatize and ostracize their opponents, Ahn Cheol-soo said in a news conference. "No country has succeeded with political polarization."
  

For decades, local politics has been divided mainly along regional and ideological fault lines. South Korea's southeast region has been the political stronghold of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party, while the southwestern region has been the political turf of the main opposition liberal New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
  

"A new party will put rational reform at the center of politics," Ahn said as he called for a new political paradigm to end what he claims is old politics riddled with enmity and confrontation.
  

He is pushing to launch a new political party by early February for April's general elections.
  

Ahn, the founder of the nation's largest anti-virus software firm Ahnlab Co., co-led the main opposition party with Moon Jae-in last year, but he quit the party earlier this month following internal strife with Moon.
  

Ahn said a tax hike is inevitable to the growing social needs and called on lawmakers to be frank on the issue, even if they could face public rebuke over a possible tax hike.
  

He also stressed the importance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and called for the development of relations between South Korea and China.
  

China has overtaken the United States as South Korea's No. 1 trade partner in recent years. (Yonhap)