Yoon "An, Final Breakdown Notice" vs An "It Was Worthless"... Voters 'Fatigued' by Unity Truth Dispute

Yoon Seok-yeol "Ahn Notifies Breakdown of Unification... Will Not Lose Hope"
Ahn Cheol-soo "Yoon's Proposal Deemed Not Worth Considering"
Lee Jun-seok "Yoon Has Sufficient Competitiveness... No Significant Change in Support Gap Even if Unified"

Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate (left), and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate, are preparing for a debate at the 2nd political field broadcast debate for the 20th presidential election, hosted by the National Election Commission, held on the 25th of last month at the SBS studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] As the unification between Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People Party, has effectively fallen through, voter fatigue and confusion continue. With less than ten days remaining until the 20th presidential election, voters' fatigue has only increased as the two candidates seem to be causing conflict over unification rather than discussing national policy directions or policies.

Earlier, on the afternoon of the 27th of last month, Candidate Yoon held a press conference at the Yeouido party headquarters, revealing the unification negotiation process between both sides and stating, "Unfortunately, I received the final notice of unification failure at 9 a.m. this morning."

He claimed that he was proposed unification based on a poll by Candidate Ahn on the 13th of last month, the presidential candidate registration day, and that both sides had been conducting behind-the-scenes negotiations through representatives but suddenly received a notice of failure. The plenipotentiary representatives were Assemblyman Jang Je-won for the People Power Party and Lee Tae-gyu, the general headquarters chief for the People Party.

However, Candidate Yoon has left the possibility of last-minute unification open. He said, "If Candidate Ahn sets the time and place even now, I would turn my car around and visit him directly even if I am on my way to the provinces, and I want to have an open-hearted conversation with Candidate Ahn," adding, "I will wait for Candidate Ahn's response. I will not give up hope for opposition unity for regime change, which is the desire of the people."

In response, Candidate Ahn said at a campaign rally at Yi Sun-sin Square in Odongdo, Yeosu, Jeollanam-do, "After hearing the (negotiation) content delivered this morning, I concluded it was not worth considering." Regarding Candidate Yoon's statement that "there was a provisional unification agreement but I received a notice of failure this morning," he said, "The (negotiation) content was not much different from the previous position."

Given this situation, unification appears to be effectively canceled. Earlier, Candidate Ahn declared the failure on the 20th of last month at a press conference, saying, "I will now go my own way," after Candidate Yoon refused to accept a poll-based primary.

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is greeting supporters during a campaign rally held in front of Donghae City Hall, Gangwon Province, on the morning of the 28th of last month. [Image source=Yonhap News]

However, ongoing disputes over unification are increasing voter fatigue. Kang (26), an office worker, said, "Both candidates only talk about 'regime change' but there seems to be no significant progress, which is disappointing," adding, "During this election period, there have been many times when the negative campaigning between candidates made me frown. But seeing conflicts arise over unification until the last moment is frustrating."

Kim (24), a university student, said, "It does not look good to see them blaming each other for the unification failure," and pointed out, "The public wants to see policy debates rather than conflicts between candidates. The election is right around the corner, but there is no sign of policy debates."

Some predict that even if unification is dramatically achieved, the gap in approval ratings will not change significantly.

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, appeared on YTN Radio's "Hwang Bo-seon's Starting New Morning" on the 28th of last month and said about the unification failure, "Our candidate's competitiveness is sufficient, so there is growing voice within the party to focus on policy and vision messages."

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, is speaking at a campaign rally held in front of Saemgoeul Market in Jeongeup-si, Jeonbuk, on the afternoon of the 28th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

When asked if unification should be considered off the table, he replied, "I judge that unification is not an essential factor, but the conservative camp may regret it. Since we cannot offer more than what we have presented so far, the judgment is not within our domain."

Regarding the possibility of Candidate Yoon winning in a multi-candidate race, he said, "There are survey results showing that the approval rating gap between Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-yeol is actually smaller when unified than when not," adding, "There is no significant change in the approval rating gap when unified."

Meanwhile, unification has been achieved three times in past presidential elections: the 15th election (Kim Dae-jung-Kim Jong-pil), the 16th election (Roh Moo-hyun-Jeong Mong-joon), and the 18th election (Moon Jae-in-Ahn Cheol-soo). In two cases, the unified candidate was elected president.

In the 18th election, then Moon Jae-in, the Democratic United Party candidate, and Candidate Ahn engaged in a tug-of-war over the unification method, resulting in a last-minute withdrawal by Candidate Ahn in a "nominal unification," but ultimately lost to Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party.

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