O Se-hoon and Ahn Cheol-soo Met Yesterday... Formation of Practical Negotiation Team for Unification

Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate (left), and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, who ran in the Seoul mayoral by-election (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] The unification negotiations have officially begun as Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate, who are running in the Seoul mayoral by-election, met. Considering that both sides agreed that unification before the candidate registration deadline would be desirable, there are about 10 days left until the conclusion.

According to both camps on the 8th, Oh and Ahn met in Gangnam, Seoul, from 8 PM for an hour and 30 minutes the previous day.

At the meeting, they reaffirmed their commitment to unification and discussed the overall framework, including the finalization date. On the same day, Oh said on MBC Radio’s "Kim Jong-bae’s Focus" that "Yesterday was a very meaningful time and a significant meeting that could help the unification negotiations going forward," adding, "We agreed that (the deadline) should naturally be before the candidate registration period."

The issues of whether to use candidate number 2 or 4, and whether the poll criteria should be 'suitability' or 'competitiveness,' remain tasks for both sides to resolve. Oh emphasized, "There is a lot of talk about whether it should be number 2 or 4, and whether the poll should measure competitiveness or suitability. The two of us agreed not to be swayed by such things. If we just set the main framework, this unification will proceed in a desirable direction. We seem to have reached a consensus on that."

Ahn also said, "Let’s not show any quarrels over trivial matters. If various things are not agreed upon, let the candidates take the lead instead of leaving it to the parties to resolve. We reached a mutual understanding on this," adding, "If the working teams do not start and make decisions by today or tomorrow, it will be difficult to meet the candidate registration deadline."

According to the People Power Party, Oh’s unification negotiation working team includes Representative Sung Il-jong, Secretary-General Jeong Yang-seok, and former Representative Kwon Taek-gi. Ahn said, "We have already completed our (working team) and are waiting." Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, said, "We finalized the unification negotiation team today, and if judged by common sense, it shouldn’t be very difficult."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.