Ahn Cheol-soo: "Whether Lee or Yoon becomes president, chaos is inevitable... Only I can unify the people"

"Evidence of Crime by Elected Officials Would Cause National Chaos"
"Evidence of Crime by Defeated Candidates Would Create Psychological Civil War"
"A Cabinet for National Unity Must Be Formed"

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, is attending the Better Country Strategy Forum held at the CCMM Building in Yeouido, Seoul on the 10th, delivering a special invited lecture. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Geum Bo-ryeong] Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, predicted on the 11th that chaos would ensue regardless of whether Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party or Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party becomes the candidate.

At a debate hosted by the Korea Journalists Association on the same day, Ahn claimed, "I am the only candidate who can unify the people."

When asked to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of his competing candidates, he said, "As one of the candidates, it is uncomfortable to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of other candidates," but added, "As many people know, the two candidates from the major parties are not free from moral issues related to family matters."

He continued, "There are ongoing controversies regarding the Daejang-dong Gate allegations and various political inexperience issues concerning their qualifications." The Daejang-dong Gate refers to candidate Lee, and the political inexperience points to candidate Yoon.

Ahn said, "What would happen if one of the major party candidates is elected?" and pointed out, "If decisive criminal evidence emerges against the elected president, South Korea will fall into great chaos, and if decisive criminal evidence emerges against the losing candidate, our country will be psychologically divided into two, entering a state of internal conflict unlike anything in the past five years."

He added, "No country has overcome a crisis while its people were divided," expressing the view that it would be difficult to address serious contemporary challenges such as COVID-19 amid national division.

Regarding the question about unifying opposition candidates, Ahn said, "I am not interested," and added, "I have never thought about the conditions for unification either." He further stated, "The reason I am running for president is because I want to become president and bring about a change in government."

Ahn also expressed skepticism about the idea of a coalition government and mentioned the possibility of cooperation through the cabinet. He said, "We have seen that coalition governments do not work properly in a presidential system and have ended in failure," and argued, "The right direction is to form a cabinet for national unity." He introduced, "French President Emmanuel Macron appointed the best talents from both ruling and opposition parties, regardless of progressiveness or conservatism," and said, "He implemented labor reforms that France had not been able to fix for 70 years." He added, "Through a national unity cabinet, we can overcome areas that we have not been able to address so far."

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