Yoo Seung-min: "We Must Accept Ahn Cheol-soo, Yoon Seok-youl, and Hong Joon-pyo to Select the Opposition Presidential Candidate"

The More Intense the Competition, the Better, but
A Unified Opposition Candidate Must Emerge

People Power Party Promises to Fix Shortcomings
"Yoon: Without Joining Forces, Regime Change Will Be Difficult"

On the first day of official election campaigning for the April 7 by-election, April 25, Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor, is visiting Namdaemun Market in Seoul with Yoo Seung-min, the election committee chairman. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] Yoo Seung-min, co-chairman of the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral election countermeasures committee, said on the 25th that all opposition presidential candidates, including former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, and Hong Joon-pyo, an independent lawmaker, should be included in the selection process.

Yoo appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" on the same day and said, "Including myself, Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong and former Future United Party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn are within the People Power Party," adding, "We accept candidates like Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, Ahn Cheol-soo, and former leader Hong Joon-pyo, and the people will choose the candidate they think is the most competitive among them to face the next presidential election. That is our main strategy."

Regarding former Prosecutor General Yoon, Yoo said, "I think he is a candidate who will compete transparently and confidently with us this summer, fall, and winter," adding, "The more intense the competition, the better. However, the result must be a single unified opposition candidate."

He continued, "Since he served as Prosecutor General for a long time under the Moon Jae-in administration, he might be somewhat reluctant to immediately join the People Power Party opposition from his perspective," but added, "From his point of view, he might think the People Power Party is still lacking." He said, "We will fix the shortcomings, but if we do not join forces, regime change will not be easy."

Regarding how to reorganize the current emergency committee system after the by-elections, Yoo said, "If Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, resigns after achieving good election results, there is no choice but to hold a party convention as soon as possible." He added, "We first need to decide whether to move to a collective leadership system or a single leadership system," explaining, "This is based on the premise of a grand unification involving the People’s Party and other opposition forces."

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