[Exclusive] During Yoon-An Dawn Negotiations, Lee Advances Unified Government... Lee Jae-myung-Kim Dong-yeon Meeting

Love Calls to Kim Dong-yeon Following Ahn Cheol-soo
Based on Recently Announced Political Reform Plan
Unified Government Targets Final Votes by Expanding Scope
However, Details of Political Reform Special Committee Discussions Uncertain
Ruling Party: "Discussion on 3-Member Districts for Basic Councilors"
Opposition: "Hastily Made Policy...Lacks Sincerity"

[Asia Economy reporters Park Jun-yi, Gu Chae-eun, Lee Ki-min] The night of the 26th when Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, met Kim Dong-yeon, the New Wave presidential candidate, coincided with the time when the working-level teams of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party's presidential candidate, were holding a 'dawn negotiation' for unification.

While candidates Yoon and Ahn were engaged in a unification power struggle, candidate Lee was reportedly moving to concretize the integrated government he envisioned. Following Ahn, candidate Lee also sent a 'love call' to candidate Kim, focusing on expanding his base to boost his support rate in the final stretch.

On the night of the 26th, candidate Lee visited the New Wave presidential campaign and met Kim in person, having a long discussion until the early morning of the 27th. Earlier, on the 24th, the Democratic Party announced a political reform plan through party leader Song Young-gil, and on the 27th, the day after the two candidates met, held a party caucus to adopt it as the party's official stance. It appears that a unification and alliance proposal with similar key points was made during the meeting between the two candidates.

However, it is uncertain whether the reform plans centered on 'integrated politics' promoted by the Democratic Party will be realized. The People Power Party views the Democratic Party's reform plan as a hastily made 'election gimmick' just a week before the presidential election, and there is no justification to accept the political reform plan proposed for an alliance with candidates Ahn Cheol-soo and Sim Sang-jung, excluding Yoon Seok-yeol. The Democratic Party's political reform plan includes △ introduction of mixed-member proportional representation and regional proportional representation △ introduction of multi-member constituencies with three or more candidates in local elections △ constitutional amendments for a four-year presidential term with one re-election and a runoff voting system. Among these, the introduction of multi-member constituencies with three or more candidates for local elections is being pursued with the goal of applying it to the June local elections.

Kim Young-bae, the Democratic Party's floor leader on the National Assembly's Special Committee on Political Reform, said in a phone interview with this paper on the 28th, "Regarding the political reform content, the proposal to strengthen multi-member constituencies with a minimum of three members for basic councilor electoral districts (partial amendment to the Public Official Election Act) will be discussed by coordinating schedules with the opposition party and the Political Reform Special Committee," adding, "We will quickly gather opinions to apply it to the local elections." On the other hand, Cho Hae-jin, the subcommittee chair of the Political Reform Special Committee and a member of the People Power Party, said in a phone interview with this paper, "We have not reviewed the Political Reform Special Committee plan proposed by the ruling party. At present, I do not see the sincerity as it is a reform plan thrown out for election purposes."

Candidate Kim also insists on 'policy alliance' rather than unification. On the 25th, the day after party leader Song announced the reform plan, candidate Kim stated on social media (SNS), "I have already proposed the content and methods of constitutional amendment and political reform to other candidates who hoped for an alliance," revealing proposals such as shortening the presidential term by one year, adopting mixed-member proportional representation, adopting the political reform bill as party policy, establishing a 'Common Policy Promotion Committee' under the transition committee, and setting up a National Housing Policy Committee.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Experts' evaluations are divided. Professor Park Sang-byeong of Inha University said, "Proposals such as the introduction of mixed-member proportional representation and multi-member constituencies have long been demanded by academia to reduce the drawbacks of the two-party system and move toward a multi-party system," adding, "It is natural for political parties to present reform plans before elections, so instead of criticizing them as election gimmicks, the validity and feasibility of the reform plans should be examined more carefully."

Professor Kim Seong-su of Hanyang University's Department of Political Science and International Relations said, "(The ruling party's political reform plan) is about forming an open cabinet including candidates Ahn Cheol-soo and Sim Sang-jung, but in short, this is impossible under the presidential system," adding, "Since this is not a general election to select a cabinet but a presidential election, such talk is merely a strategic choice to win the election." Professor Shin Yul of Myongji University's Department of Political Science and International Relations also said, "The Democratic Party, which has held 180 seats, has passed all the bills it wanted, but even bills like mixed-member proportional representation have not been passed. Therefore, sincerity and credibility inevitably fall short."

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