Trapped in the 'Heat Dome' Merger... Lee Jun-seok Opens Possibility of 'Direct Negotiation' with Ahn Cheol-soo

Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People Party (left), and Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] Discussions on the merger between the People Power Party and the People’s Party are trapped in a 'heat dome' of disputes over shares. The negotiation deadline set by both sides to conclude talks within July is becoming difficult to meet. To resolve the deadlock in the merger issue, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, has proposed a meeting with Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, leaving open the possibility of a 'direct negotiation.'

On the 23rd, Kwon Eun-hee, floor leader of the People’s Party and head of the working-level negotiation team, appeared on KBS Radio’s 'Choi Kyung-young’s Strong Current Affairs' and said regarding the timing of the merger, "We really cannot say much about summer," adding, "The situation is truly uncertain concerning the timing."

Seong Il-jong, member of the People Power Party and head of its working-level negotiation team, had expressed as recently as the end of last month that "We should wrap up the (merger) within July." Lee Tae-gyu, secretary-general of the People’s Party, also emphasized "resolving it within summer." It seemed possible to complete the merger by July, but both sides have failed to narrow their differences and remain at an impasse.

The biggest points of contention are the party name change, key regional party committee chair positions, the Yeouido Research Institute director position, and appointed supreme council member positions. The People Power Party claims that the People’s Party is making excessively demanding requests regarding shares, while the People’s Party counters that the People Power Party is listing even demands that were never made.

Recently, both sides have shown increasingly sharp attitudes toward each other. Floor leader Kwon said, "The People’s Party is approaching the merger with the attitude of unifying the opposition for a better regime change, but the People Power Party simply perceives it as a numbers game and is negotiating accordingly," adding, "Because of such an attitude, it is actually difficult and troubling from the People’s Party’s perspective." He also criticized Lee on Facebook the previous day, saying, "Leader Lee mocked the negotiation counterpart with a remark about the price of beef and is now trying to force the counterpart to yield by claiming they are making unreasonable demands." This was a rebuttal to Lee’s warning that "mutual demands made during the negotiation process may have to be disclosed."

The problem is that the People Power Party is strongly advocating for an 'August bus plan,' meaning that if the merger is not completed within summer, it could be delayed until the end of this year. Accordingly, Lee is considering narrowing differences through a direct meeting with Ahn. Lee had mentioned the day before that he plans to propose a meeting with Ahn while emphasizing his 'willingness to merge.'

However, floor leader Kwon drew a line, saying, "Currently, discussions between the two parties have progressed about 30 to 50 percent, so even if the two party leaders meet, they would have to delegate the discussions back to the working-level negotiation teams," adding, "At this stage, the two party leaders should not meet directly; rather, Leader Lee should fully authorize and delegate to the People Power Party’s working-level negotiation team so that they can conduct substantive negotiations."

Upon hearing this, Lee reiterated the importance of meeting with Ahn. At a meeting with reporters after an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council on the same day, Lee said, "I think the stage left is for Ahn and me to meet as leaders and talk," adding, "Floor leader Kwon said there is no need for Ahn and me to meet, but I don’t know who decides that since I’m not familiar with the People’s Party system. I hope to meet with Ahn soon."

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