Jang Je-won and Lee Tae-gyu's 'Behind-the-Scenes Efforts' Lead to Yoon and Ahn's Unification

Yoon Seok-yeol and Ahn Cheol-soo Unification Behind the Scenes
Rapid Progress After Phone Calls Between Jang Je-won and Lee Tae-gyu Before Candidate TV Debate
Dramatic Agreement Reached Through 2.5-Hour Dawn Meeting Between Both Sides

Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate (left), and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party's presidential candidate, are riding up the escalator at the National Assembly Communication Hall on the morning of the 3rd to hold a unification press conference. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporters Kum Boryeong and Park Juni] The dramatic unification of presidential candidates Yoon Seok-yeol of the People Power Party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party began to gain momentum starting just before the TV debate on the evening of the 2nd.

According to political circles on the 3rd, Rep. Jang Je-won of the People Power Party and Rep. Lee Tae-gyu of the People’s Party reaffirmed their determination for regime change during a phone call the previous afternoon. Later, around 9 p.m. on the same day while the TV debate was underway, they met to continue unification negotiations. Although many expected the working-level negotiation line to be cut off after candidate Yoon declared the unification had failed on the 27th of last month, they occasionally kept in touch to confirm their intentions. Candidates Yoon and Ahn even appeared wearing matching red ties, sending a positive signal.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

After the TV debate, Rep. Jang and Rep. Lee relayed the details of their meeting to the two candidates. Both sides gathered at the home of Rep. Jang’s brother-in-law in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Jang’s brother-in-law is a KAIST professor who had known candidate Ahn when Ahn was also a KAIST professor, and is known to have served as a director of Ahn’s Donggeurami Foundation. A People Power Party official said, "After the TV debate ended, there was no suitable place to meet late at night, so this location was chosen." From that time until 2:30 a.m. the next day, negotiations continued and the unification was achieved. At this meeting, both sides agreed to jointly promote everything from the formation of the transition committee to appointments in the integrated government and cabinet reshuffles.

Candidate Yoon said at a press conference that day, "We both wanted to meet, and we met late at night, talked until after 2 a.m., and were able to show a united front."

Previously, the two sides engaged in intense disputes over the method of unification before reaching an agreement. On the 7th of last month, Choi Jin-seok, the standing election committee chairman of the People’s Party, first called candidate Yoon to propose unification conditions. On the 9th, candidate Yoon publicly mentioned reaching an agreement through a ‘direct negotiation between candidates.’ Then on the 10th, Rep. Jang proposed a meeting to Rep. Lee, and behind-the-scenes private talks began. However, on the 13th, candidate Ahn brought up the ‘public opinion poll primary’ method, causing a clash of views between the two sides. Subsequently, candidate Ahn held an emergency press conference and declared the unification had failed on the 20th.

On the 27th, Rep. Jang and Rep. Lee reached a partial agreement through a secret meeting at dawn, but candidate Ahn conveyed a final decision to break off talks to candidate Yoon’s side, plunging the process into uncertainty. However, candidate Ahn’s side proposed a meeting on the 2nd, which opened the way for unification.

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