Ahn Cheol-soo "Proposed Amendments to People Power Party but No Response"

by Park Joonyi

Published 18 Mar.2021 08:17(KST)

"If the negotiation team cannot reach an agreement, they should at least meet the candidate to resolve it"

Oh Se-hoon, People Power Party candidate for Seoul Mayor, Ahn Cheol-soo, People Party candidate for Seoul Mayor

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate for Seoul mayor, urged the opposing candidate Oh Se-hoon from the People Power Party, with whom he is negotiating unification talks, to respond after presenting two revised proposals on the night of the 17th. He emphasized that if the negotiation team cannot reach an agreement, the candidates themselves must resolve the issue through direct talks.

On the 18th, Candidate Ahn stated on Twitter, “We are waiting for a response to the two revised proposals we presented last night regarding the unification plan, but we have not received any news yet.”

On the previous night of the 17th, Lee Tae-gyu, Secretary-General of the People's Party, announced at a National Assembly press briefing that the negotiations had broken down and that additional revision proposals had been made to the People Power Party side. These included conducting only wireless opinion polls under the condition of a wireless survey, a competitiveness poll asking “Among the unified opposition candidates, who is more competitive against Park Young-sun of the Democratic Party, Oh or Ahn?” and a plan to reflect competitiveness and suitability surveys at a 50-50 ratio.

Regarding this, Candidate Ahn said, “It is a fair and reasonable plan, and since it sufficiently accepts the demands of the People Power Party, we expect a positive response.” He added, “Unification must be achieved, and it is the earnest wish of the broad opposition supporters. If there is no agreement from the negotiation teams, I believe the candidates themselves must take responsibility and meet to resolve the issue.”

The working-level negotiation teams from both sides are scheduled to hold final unification talks on the morning of the 18th. The negotiation deadline is reported to be 9 a.m. If an agreement is reached that morning, opinion polling will begin immediately, and the final unified candidate will be announced on the afternoon of the 19th. However, if negotiations fail, each candidate may register independently.