Lee Jun-seok "People's Party Seems to Expect Surpassing Bold Proposal... Yoon Seok-yeol Has Enough Competitiveness"

"Unification Not Essential... Cannot Do More Than Proposed"
"Negotiation Process Revealed, Will Show Who Was Genuine"
"If Lee Taegyu Is Not an Agent, Why Negotiate Until Dawn?"

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, is appealing to citizens for support of candidate Yoon Seok-yeol at Jeomchon Station in Mungyeong-si, Gyeongbuk, on the afternoon of the 26th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Jung-wan] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, commented on the failure of the 'opposition candidate unification' between Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate, saying, "Considering the gap in approval ratings, Candidate Yoon showed considerable courtesy," and added, "Despite it being a groundbreaking proposal, there was partial agreement that was later broken, which suggests that the People's Party expected a proposal that would surpass this."

In an interview on the 28th with YTN Radio's 'Hwang Bo-seon's Start of a New Morning,' Lee stated, "Since our candidate's competitiveness is sufficient, there is growing talk within the party about focusing the candidate on policies, vision, and messaging."

He said, "I do not consider unification an essential element, but the conservative camp might find it regrettable," and added, "Since we cannot offer more than what we proposed during the negotiation process, the judgment on the possibility of unification seems to be outside our domain."

Regarding the breakdown of unification talks the previous day, Lee explained, "Candidate Yoon waited sincerely for Candidate Ahn's side's response. Yoon hoped that the parts that were somewhat agreed upon would proceed as agreed," and continued, "However, there was a sudden change, and around 9 p.m., Candidate Ahn's side gave a final notice that unification would not happen, to which we responded."

Addressing expectations that a dramatic agreement could be reached over the past weekend, he said, "We did not have such expectations. It was a rather weak hope," and added, "Candidate Yoon seemed to have some hope, as he adjusted his campaign schedule out of respect for Candidate Ahn until the very end while listening to the negotiation details."

In response to criticism that Candidate Yoon was responsible for the failure of unification, Lee replied, "The public will be able to discern who had sincerity and who lacked it."

Regarding the People's Party's claim that Lee Tae-gyu, the general election campaign headquarters chief of the People's Party, who negotiated with People Power Party lawmaker Jang Je-won until dawn the previous day, was not a 'full authority representative,' Lee said, "It's puzzling. Why would someone without full authority negotiate until dawn?" and rebutted, "It was because he was a full authority representative that he could negotiate until dawn."

On the Seoul Shinmun poll released the previous day showing that the gap in approval ratings with Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate, narrowed after unification, Lee said, "We confirmed a similar trend in internal surveys," and added, "There are differing opinions internally on whether unification mainly serves to widen our candidate's approval rating gap or whether it is better to discuss vision and future policies."

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