Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo is keeping up a brisk pace on his plan to launch a new political party by early February.

Ahn, who broke away from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy -- now renamed the Together Democratic Party -- earlier this month, held a news conference Sunday to set out his vision for the new party. It was the first time that he met the media to discuss his plans for the new party.

But what Ahn said fell far short of clearly showing what his “new politics” and the envisaged party would try to achieve and -- more important -- how.  

Ahn said that Korea cannot solve today’s problems within the paradigm of either dictatorial government-pushed development or pro-democracy activism. Few would doubt that we need polity that is entirely different from what we see now.

Ahn said his party would stay away from what he called ultraconservatism and outdated liberalism, apparently referring to the conservative ruling Saenuri Party and the NPAD, and take the road of “rational reform.” Few would doubt either that Korean politics should end its extreme ideological and regional polarization and that it needs a healthy middle-of-the-road party.

But Ahn failed to present a clear vision of how he is going to build up the envisaged party as a third party that is different from the existing parties.

He presented as values of his new politics things like sympathy, communication, participation and openness and governance. He also spoke about educational reform, gaps and polarization in society, welfare and even the South Korea-U.S. alliance and reunification.

This is nothing but all too familiar rhetoric, which is the last thing we should expect from a politician who is calling for a drastic reform of politics. Instead, Ahn should have touched on at least some of the current political issues -- like the labor reform bills and the redrawing of parliamentary constituencies, which have been deadlocked at the National Assembly for several months.

Ahn is rushing to launch a party so that it can participate in the April general election. It means that for the first time since he entered politics three years ago, he will be in the real world of politics. What he needs as a political leader preparing for an election is a concrete platform, policy alternatives and action plans, not vague, abstract rhetoric and euphemisms.