Press Association-Hosted TV Debate, Practical Negotiations Today... Will the 2nd Round Open After Five Days?

Practical Council Meeting with Association and Parties on 5th Afternoon... 2nd Discussion Likely on Evening of 8th

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The four major presidential candidates from the ruling and opposition parties will participate in their second TV debate. The Korea Journalists Association has proposed holding a four-party presidential candidate debate on the evening of the 8th, and each candidate has expressed a positive intention to participate.

According to political circles on the 5th, the Journalists Association plans to hold a working-level meeting at 3 p.m. that day with representatives from each party to discuss the debate's timing and format.

Kwon Hyuk-ki, Deputy Director of Public Relations for the Democratic Party's presidential campaign committee, has officially conveyed Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate's intention to attend, and Seong Il-jong, head of the People Power Party's debate negotiation team, also revealed in a media interview that "we received contact from the Journalists Association, and Candidate Yoon has agreed to participate in the debate." The People Party and the Justice Party have also expressed their intention to attend to the association.

So far, there has been talk of JTBC broadcasting the debate live on the evening of the 8th. However, the People Power Party stated that while they will attend the meeting on the 5th, they have concerns about fairness if JTBC also serves as the moderator. They have requested the selection of a neutral figure acceptable to all parties. Some suggest that if the parties fail to reach an agreement on the moderator selection, the working-level discussions may be prolonged.

Once negotiations are finalized, the second four-party debate will be held five days after the first one on the 3rd. Additionally, three legally mandated debates hosted by the National Election Commission are scheduled.

Although the previous debate was evaluated as lacking any standout performances, the combined viewership ratings of the three major terrestrial broadcasters reached 39%. This confirms the demand for TV debates as an opportunity to compare candidates, and public interest is expected to continue in the upcoming debates.

Meanwhile, each party is currently formulating strategies not only for the highly likely debate on the 8th but also for the legally mandated debates. It is reported that they are reviewing and analyzing the candidates' remarks from the previous debate.

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