Yoon: "Just before unification agreement, received notice of breakdown from Ahn... Will not lose hope" (Comprehensive)

Yoon Seok-yeol Receives Final Breakdown Notice at 9 AM
Negotiation Progress with Ahn Cheol-soo Side Revealed
Kwon Young-se "Will Continue Unification Efforts Until the Day Before Voting"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, announced on the 27th that although he had reached a final agreement in unification talks with Ahn Cheol-soo, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, he received a notification of breakdown from Ahn's side. Yoon expressed that he still hopes to negotiate directly with Ahn.

At a press conference held at the party headquarters that day, Yoon revealed the negotiation process, saying, "I sincerely did my best for unification with candidate Ahn."

He introduced, "Our party members and fully authorized representatives from both sides met and continued serious unification negotiations," adding, "A final agreement was reached, and only the schedule for a meeting between candidate Ahn and myself remained." Yoon said, "This morning, I held a press conference and accepted a request to publicly propose a meeting to candidate Ahn, and it was decided that the meeting's time and place would be determined and notified," but "unfortunately, at 9 a.m. today, I received the final notification of the breakdown of unification."

Despite Ahn's notification of the breakdown, Yoon said, "If candidate Ahn sets the time and place, even if I am on my way to the provinces, I would turn the car around anytime to visit him directly and have an open-hearted conversation," and added, "I will not let go of the hope for opposition unity for regime change, which is the people's desire."

Yoon confirmed that the polling method demanded by Ahn during the unification negotiation process was not discussed, and that the negotiation channels were People Power Party lawmaker Jang Je-won on Yoon's side and Lee Tae-gyu, the general election campaign headquarters chief of the People Party, on Ahn's side.

During a Q&A session with reporters, Yoon stated, "On our side, lawmaker Jang was in charge, and on their side, headquarters chief Lee was responsible."

Regarding the unification method through polling, which Ahn had presented as the sole condition for unification, Yoon explained that it was not even mentioned during the actual negotiation process. He said, "There was never any talk about polling during the unification discussions between the fully authorized representatives."

Kwon Young-se, the People Power Party's general election campaign headquarters chief, said, "Because the people's desire for opposition unity is great, we will continue our efforts until the voting day," adding, "We will make efforts until the day before the main vote."

Regarding the breakdown of unification talks between the two sides just before the final agreement, he said, "It is not appropriate to speak in detail about the content," but added, "What is clear is that both sides, being conscientious groups, did not discuss any problematic issues related to election laws."

The People Power Party, while expressing willingness to resume negotiations, emphasized that the difficulty in unification talks lies with Ahn's side. The party disclosed the negotiation logs between the two sides and also introduced text messages sent by Yoon to Ahn.

A People Power Party official said, "If it becomes a matter of responsibility, unification becomes difficult," but added, "It was done with the intention that candidate Ahn feels and participates in the national demand or request for unification."

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