Lee Jun-seok: "Unification Not Essential"... "Our Candidate Has Competitiveness"

"Jang Je-won Knew About Participation in Negotiations"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] On the 28th, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, reiterated his stance that unification is not mandatory. He showed no regrets over the failure to unify with Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, stating that his party’s candidate Yoon Seok-youl has sufficient competitiveness.

On the same day, Lee appeared on YTN Radio’s “Hwang Bo-seon’s Start of a New Morning” and said, “Within the party, there is a growing discussion about how the candidate should focus on policies, vision, and messaging.” This revealed that despite Yoon’s active willingness to negotiate unification with Ahn expressed at a press conference the day before, there is a movement within the party to support an independent run rather than unification.

Regarding the possibility of last-minute unification with Ahn, he said, “Some in the conservative camp might feel a bit regretful,” but drew a line by adding, “We cannot offer anything beyond what we have already proposed, so the judgment does not seem to be within our domain.”

Concerning the recent close competition in opinion polls with Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, he emphasized, “There was even a survey showing that the gap in support rates with Lee was smaller when unified with Ahn than when not unified,” and added, “It’s not a matter of whether to unify or not, but that unification does not significantly change the gap in support rates.”

He also mentioned that the responsibility for the failure of unification lies with the People’s Party. Lee said, “As a merger between a 100-seat party (People Power Party) and a 3-seat party (People’s Party), we made very bold proposals,” and added, “They partially agreed but suddenly broke off later. It seems the People’s Party expected some proposal beyond that, but realistically, that is difficult.”

Regarding Lee Tae-gyu, the People’s Party’s general election campaign headquarters chief, expressing displeasure over the People Power Party’s disclosure of the unification negotiation process, Lee Jun-seok countered that Lee Tae-gyu himself had disclosed his proposals during past merger discussions between the two parties. He said, “It seems the People’s Party thinks they can do whatever they want while we think we cannot, which is somewhat regrettable.”

About Rep. Jang Je-won’s participation in the unification negotiations as Yoon’s plenipotentiary agent, Lee said, “I was aware of it,” and added, “Wouldn’t Ahn Cheol-soo have needed to send someone trustworthy?” This was explained as a considerate act for Ahn, who has a friendly relationship with Rep. Jang, as mentioned by Yoon at the press conference the day before.

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