Ahn Cheol-soo Halts Merger Push... "The People's Party is a Pragmatic Centrist Party"

Ahn Cheol-soo, Leader of the People Party Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People Party, stated, "I regret to inform you that the efforts for the unification of the People Party and the People Power Party have come to a halt here."

On the morning of the 16th, Ahn held a press conference at the National Assembly and said, "We have come to the conclusion that unification just for the sake of unification or to eliminate a small party is neither desirable for regime change nor for creating a better Republic of Korea."

He explained the reason for stopping by saying, "The purpose of unification is for centrists and conservatives to unite and achieve 'regime change to create a better Republic of Korea,' but during the unification discussions, instead of understanding and spreading the feelings of the People Party members and supporters, it rather caused wounds." He also emphasized, "Without expanding the support base, regime change is impossible."

He added, "Regime change must not become a repetitive cycle of hostile confrontational politics that the past established two-party system has repeated," and argued, "The process of regime change should lead to bold innovation that creates a better Republic of Korea."

He continued, "To overcome the crisis that the Republic of Korea is currently facing, whoever becomes president must be able to unite the people and work on problem-solving in a bipartisan manner," and warned, "Otherwise, the Republic of Korea will fall into a greater crisis after the presidential election."

Ahn expressed his intention to maintain the course as a centrist party. He emphasized, "The People Party is a pragmatic centrist party," and said, "We will unite the people, solve current life issues, and at the same time lead national reform and future agendas for the younger generation."

Finally, he said, "We are once again standing at a steep slope toward the future. It is a difficult and challenging path, but I will walk it with courage," and added, "We will find a new path of change by getting closer to the people suffering from COVID-19."

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