Lee Unification Kim Dong-yeon "Yoon·Ahn Unification Feels Like Power Sharing"

"Ijaemyeong-Kimdongyeon Unification Aims for Political Change...Essential Difference from Yoon-An Unification"

Kim Dong-yeon, the New Wave presidential candidate, held a press conference at the campaign office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd, announcing his withdrawal from the race and expressing his support for Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kang Woo-seok] Kim Dong-yeon, leader of the New Wave party, stated on the 4th that the unification between Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, "feels like a division of interests and power just before the election, fundamentally different from the unification between Lee Jae-myung and myself."

Kim appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' that day and said, "From the beginning of our political careers, the unification between candidate Lee Jae-myung and myself was defined by the spirit of the times as breaking vested interests, and we talked about political change first. To realize that value, we made a difficult decision despite the hardships."

He continued, "The biggest difference from the Yoon-Ahn unification is that we talked about system reform first," adding, "We proposed changing the presidential system to a decentralized one and reached agreements on election laws and various legislative amendments for political reform, even setting a timetable."

He criticized, "Secondly, we refused to merge. We talked about breaking the vested two-party structure to pursue values," and said, "Candidates Ahn and Yoon merged and talked about a multi-party system, so there is a big difference."

Regarding the joint government theory raised regardless of party lines, he explained, "We proposed an action plan to create a decentralized presidential system law, that is, a national consensus bill within a year, and even suggested shortening the presidential term by one year to align with the next local elections. We also proposed submitting various political-related bills to the National Assembly before the president's inauguration during the transition period," adding, "A joint government is formed through such methodological efforts."

He then pointed out, "Who goes to which position and how they do it are merely methods to promote a joint government," and said, "I don't think the joint government, as pursued by candidates Yoon and Ahn regarding who takes what position and how, will be perceived positively by the public."

In response to criticism that he allied with the 'Democratic Party of Korea,' classified as vested interests, while talking about 'breaking vested interests,' he said, "In three meetings with candidate Lee, we had the same conversation. The first step to breaking vested interests is to relinquish the vested interests one holds," adding, "At the end of November last year, we announced pledges on power structure and political change, and the Democratic Party even held a party meeting and accepted a significant part of it. To break vested interests, we first asked the Democratic Party and myself to relinquish vested interests and sincerely put it into practice. Because I felt such sincerity, I made this difficult decision."

When asked by the host if the unification between Lee Jae-myung and Kim Dong-yeon seemed overshadowed by the Yoon Seok-yeol-Ahn Cheol-soo unification, he replied, "The meaning is important, and it is also important how it resonates with the people," and retorted, "Is being overshadowed really important?"

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