Lee Jae-myung: "3rd and 4th Parties Must Exist for Political Reform... Proposal to All Except Yoon"

Sim·An say "No difference between your words and the need for political reform"
"Yoon is dichotomous and inconsistent... cannot work together"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Koo Chae-eun, Kim Young-won] On the 24th, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, proposed, "Let's find a way for all political forces that truly want to improve the lives of the people, excluding the People Power Party's candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, to cooperate within possible limits."

In an interview on BBS Radio's 'Park Kyung-soo's Morning Journal' that morning, Lee said, "It would be good to reach a common agreement on political reform. This is a message to all who can cooperate." Regarding Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party and Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party, he said, "There is almost no difference between the two in their statements, political change, and the necessity of a coalition government." About candidate Yoon, he said, "Looking at his campaigns, statements, and actions, he is frighteningly old-fashioned, dichotomous, violent, and inconsistent," adding, "I cannot work with such a person."

On the purpose of the coalition government theory, he said, "Because we have winner-takes-all politics, even if one gets 40% of the vote, exercising 100% of the power causes conflict," and added, "We must have a coalition government where those who can cooperate divide roles and work together for the country." He explained, "Breaking the hostile symbiosis of the two major parties and allowing third and fourth parties to exist as viable options is true political change," and said, "My dream was to completely change politics and have a 'competition to do well,' and it seems the opportunity has come this time."

He continued, "Let's turn this situation, where neither side can win alone, into an opportunity for political change in the Republic of Korea," and said, "What meaning does changing to a worse regime that is incompetent, irresponsible, ignorant, and threatens peace and the economy have? This is a decisive opportunity to create a new world through political change."

He proposed specific political reform measures such as limiting two-member constituencies for basic councilors and implementing a runoff voting system. Lee said, "For example, what does the responsibility dispute over the failure of unification with candidate Ahn have to do with the people? An effective way to prevent that is runoff voting," adding, "If the first and second place candidates do not exceed 50%, the people decide. Currently, it allows politicians to collude."

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