A Day of Confusion over the 야 Unification... An and Oh End with 'Mutual Concession' (Summary)

Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor (right), and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate for Seoul mayor, are greeting each other at an event held on the 17th at the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] On the morning of the 19th, Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate, who are pushing for unification in the Seoul mayoral by-election, caused confusion by saying their "words differ." Both sides held consecutive press conferences to express their positions and continued their disputes, but in the afternoon, they showed signs of 'concession' by agreeing to accept the other party’s proposal.

The first to hold a press conference that day was Ahn’s side. At 10:40 a.m. at the National Assembly, Ahn stated, "I will accept the unification method requested by Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, and candidate Oh," adding, "Even if it is disadvantageous and unreasonable to me, I will endure it if unification can be achieved quickly. And I will leave it to the citizens’ choice and evaluation."

Until then, regarding the method of the unification opinion poll, candidate Oh had insisted on including landline phones, while candidate Ahn advocated for 100% mobile phones.

Then, Lee Tae-gyu, secretary-general of the People’s Party negotiation team, met with reporters and said, "The strongest demand from the People Power Party right now is to include landline numbers, so we will accept that part," adding, "(The percentage) will need to be discussed by the working-level negotiation team." Regarding the poll questions, he explained, "The plan requested by the People Power Party to us was a competitiveness survey."

At around 11:35 a.m., Seong Il-jong, emergency committee member, and Jeong Yang-seok, secretary-general of the People Power Party negotiation team, held a press conference to rebut Lee’s remarks. They said there were differences between the two sides. They claimed that the proposal accepted by Kim and Oh, which Ahn said he would accept, asks half of the questions on competitiveness and half on suitability, and reflects 10% landline numbers in the overall opinion poll. Secretary-General Jeong pointed out, "If the stories of candidate Ahn and Secretary-General Lee differ in tone, there is internal confusion that needs to be sorted out."

At 1:30 p.m., candidate Oh also held a press conference at the National Assembly and said, "At the meeting with candidate Ahn at 9:30 a.m. today, I said that the unification negotiations should not be stopped and should continue, and that it should be settled before the start of the election campaign period, so there was a principled agreement on that part," adding, "But after parting, candidate Ahn held a press conference shortly after. After hearing that content and the briefing by Secretary-General Lee right after the press conference, I could not understand it. It became more unclear which proposal would be accepted 100%." He continued, "One more thing to request is that there is no separate proposal from Oh Se-hoon and Kim Jong-in," emphasizing, "There is only the People Power Party proposal agreed upon with the party as candidate Oh Se-hoon of the People Power Party."

The People’s Party also held a briefing to counterattack the People Power Party. At 2:10 p.m., Ahn Hye-jin, spokesperson for the People’s Party, said, "Candidate Ahn accepted the last proposal negotiated with candidate Oh’s side with a desperate heart for regime change," and criticized, "Why do they keep spouting different stories?" Spokesperson Ahn also brought up the final official party stance of the People Power Party requested by Secretary-General Jeong on the 17th. That proposal included Secretary-General Jeong’s statement that "the People Power Party’s position is not to avoid the competitiveness survey requested by the People’s Party."

However, at 3:30 p.m., both sides made a decision of 'concession' to each other. At a press conference at the National Assembly, candidate Ahn said, "The People Power Party’s position is to reflect 50% each of competitiveness and suitability as candidate Oh said, and to ask respondents only one item between suitability and competitiveness in the survey method, and to include 10% landline phones additionally requested by Chairman Kim," adding, "It is really hard to understand. But I will accept that as well."

Candidate Oh also said, "I am going to make a decision to concede and fully accept the demands of candidate Ahn’s side. Although it goes against the basic principles of opinion polls, I will accept the 100% mobile phone method proposed by candidate Ahn," adding, "This is the proposal that candidate Ahn accepted after I revised and presented it yesterday (one opinion poll agency for suitability survey, another for competitiveness survey). The mixed landline and mobile survey was the obstacle, but I will concede and fully accept conducting the survey by mobile phones only, excluding landlines."

Both sides plan to continue discussions on this matter. Around 4:50 p.m., when candidate Oh met with reporters and was asked, "Will you negotiate tonight?" he replied, "I think the candidates should meet once," and said, "I will contact candidate Ahn soon and meet to clear up misunderstandings and have such an opportunity."

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