Lee Jun-seok: "Ahn's side proposed 'to make Ahn Cheol-soo quit'... should refrain from such remarks"

"People's Party Side Trying to Shift Responsibility for Unification"

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, is seen leaving after a closed-door Supreme Council meeting at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 6th of last month, while responding to questions from the press. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, stated, "There have been proposals from People’s Party officials to our side to make candidate Ahn Chul-soo drop out, regardless of Ahn’s own intentions."

On the 23rd, Lee appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and, when asked about negotiations for opposition unity, said, "Neither side had a person with responsible authority negotiating. It seems there were only some behind-the-scenes exchanges of opinions."

He continued, "People’s Party officials need to be careful with their words and actions, as there have been proposals from them to our side to make candidate Ahn drop out regardless of his intentions. Now, some seem to be completely disregarding this and, seeing Ahn’s stance, appear flustered and are trying to shift responsibility onto our side. They should refrain from such remarks."

Lee then compared the People’s Party figures who said they would make Ahn Chul-soo drop out to 'Mi Fang and Fu Shiren, Fan Kang and Zhang Da' from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the story, Mi Fang and Fu Shiren betrayed Guan Yu, while Fan Kang and Zhang Da killed Zhang Fei and were branded as traitors.

Regarding the repeated mentions of unification between candidate Ahn Chul-soo and People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl, Lee said, "Those who say we must unify with candidate Ahn believe, 'If we don’t unify, we might lose.'” He pointed out, "People caught up in this anxiety are being played by threats from Ahn’s side." He added, "He (Ahn) said he wouldn’t run, then declared he would run, then suddenly said let’s unify, and now says he won’t. It’s Lee (Jun-seok) whose position has changed several times during the short campaign period."

Furthermore, Lee emphasized, "Rather than unification, it is important for us to work hard to present policy alternatives and communicate with as many citizens as possible."

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