Ahn Cheol-soo Considers Outdoor Overnight Sit-in at National Assembly... Intends to Block Lee and Yoon's One-on-One Debate

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, is speaking at a press conference hosted by the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 28th.
[Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, stated that he is considering staging an overnight sit-in protest to block a one-on-one debate between Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party.

According to officials from the People’s Party campaign committee on the 29th, Ahn plans to hold an emergency press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office on the afternoon of the 30th to strongly criticize the push for a one-on-one debate. Despite the court’s injunction banning the one-on-one TV debate, Ahn intends to condemn the two major parties for attempting to force a “collusive debate” and is prepared to hold an overnight outdoor sit-in protest on the lawn in front of the National Assembly main building.

If Ahn launches the overnight sit-in protest in the form of an “off-site policy filibuster,” he plans to broadcast it live through YouTube channels and other platforms. This means he wants to directly explain his policies and vision, which he originally intended to present and be scrutinized for in a four-party TV debate, to the public.

Earlier, on the 26th, the Seoul Western District Court granted the injunction filed by Ahn and the People’s Party against the three terrestrial broadcasters, prohibiting them from conducting or airing a one-on-one TV debate excluding Ahn.

However, the Democratic Party and the People Power Party have decided to hold a debate independently at the National Assembly on the 31st without terrestrial TV broadcasting and are currently negotiating the rules. The two parties have yet to narrow their differences over the debate topics and plan to continue negotiations on the morning of the 30th. If no final agreement is reached, there is a possibility that the one-on-one debate may be canceled.

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