The watershed television debate between presidential candidates Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and independent Ahn Cheol-soo late Wednesday was overshadowed by the failed negotiations between their aides on rules for selecting a single candidate.

Moon and Ahn faced off in the 100-minute long debate, swapping cordial yet competitive exchanges over their visions and pledges as the clock ticked to the final selection of their single candidacy.

The live debate that aired from 11:15 p.m. via major broadcasters was watched by millions as they watched the liberal candidates argue the need for an administrative change and try to convince viewers that they were the better candidate to get the job done.

The bilateral showdown came on the heels of heated negotiations on the survey method, with the two sides remaining at odds over the phrasing of the survey that will determine who would become the progressive flag-bearer on the backing of the DUP.

Both dressed in black suits, Moon and Ahn appeared calm, although tense at times, as they took turns to throw questions at each other. The duo switched between offense and defense throughout, questioning each other while making their own cases on pending issues.

“The wind for a new politics is greatly attributable to you. It is my wish that we can gather our forces for change,” Moon said.

But he questioned Ahn’s earlier proposal to cut the number of lawmakers and state subsidies, saying, “What I believe that we must achieve is to activate the areas that our politics could not execute properly, rather than reducing or weakening politics.“

Ahn expressed his idea of a nation’s leader by saying, “A leader must lead by example to solve problems. It should not be a leadership in which one makes decisions on his own by receiving reports from subordinates but to make decisions by generally considering free suggestions made by them.”

The two also briefly exchanged barbs over what was the more appropriate way of picking the single candidate, with Moon saying the winner must be chosen based on general support ratings, while Ahn stuck by his position that they must pick who was more competitive against frontrunner Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party.

Pundits said the debate would play a pivotal role in the run up to their ultimate decision on who will become the liberal flag-bearer on the backing of the DUP to go against Park. Park is to hold a separate televised debate with a panel next Monday.

“Usually, television debates have little impact on the outcome of the election as most people tend to stick to their initial selection until the end throughout the campaign period,” said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher from the Korea Opinion Society Institute.

“But because this time the support for the opposition candidates is less firm and more flexible, the people’s reaction to the debate is likely to play a key factor in the race of Moon and Ahn,” Yoon added.

Moon and Ahn were seen to focus on appealing to the public by highlighting their leadership images, rather than colliding head-on over their policies, much of which overlap.

For Moon, the key task has been to transform his image as a presidential aide to a charismatic leader, affirm his intention to propel political reform, and prove his control of the DUP.

For Ahn, he has been facing calls to become more assertive and less ambiguous or theoretical in his statements in order to discard his image as a newcomer with minimal political experience.

The debate was held at the Kim Koo Museum, without a panel or spectators and moderated by Jeong Gwan-yong, a political commentator.

The discussion process was similar to the one in 2002 between then-candidates former President Roh Moo-hyun and Chung Mong-joon, who debated over their single candidacy, politics, economy, social and cultural issues and foreign affairs, security and relations of the two Koreas.

Both Moon and Ahn prepared for the debate with their own exclusive televised forums with Korea Journalists’ Association and Korea Broadcasting Journalists Club this week.

The debate showed the two candidates coincided in the main thrust of their pledges.

On economic democratization, both candidates stressed the importance of reforming chaebol but remained divided over the details.

Moon vowed to ban conglomerates from new cross-shareholding and obligate the dissolution of existing ones after a three-year grace period. Ahn, too, pledged to ban new cross-shareholding but decided to spare existing practices from obligatory measures.

“The existing cross-shareholding practices were the root cause of the conglomerates’ excessive growth and monopolization,” Moon said, criticizing Ahn’s relatively lenient plan.

The independent candidate hit back that economic democratization and chaebol reform should not be taken as an ultimate purpose but only a means to achieve a fair social system.

Ahn also demanded that Moon, who served former President Roh Moo-hyun as chief-of-staff, explain why the Roh administration alleviated the conglomerates’ investment ceiling system in the first place.

“The problem of the ceiling system was not its concept or purpose, but the fact it allowed too many exceptions,” Moon answered.

“I believe that the given regulations should be revived in order to curb the conglomerates’ reckless expansion.”

The two candidates largely concurred on social security which has been creeping up the election agenda, but differed over the speed and scope.

The two candidates put top priority on greater support for health care and affordable schooling. Envisioning to build a welfare state, both seek to halve college tuitions, keep individual medical expenses at less than 1 million won ($920) a year, boost female participation in the labor force, and expand free child care.

Moon presented a detailed time line for providing “universal” welfare programs, aiming for “the first president of the welfare state.” He pledged to instantly cut in half tuitions for public universities and for all schools by 2014.

In contrast, Ahn wants to gradually expand tuition cuts and the social safety net throughout the term of the next government, weary of protracted economic doldrums and snowballing public and household debt. 

“I think Ahn’s gradual plan may be too slow. I hope we will have the resolve to push for half-price tuitions at a faster speed despite financial difficulties,” Moon said, accusing his counterpart of shifting to “selective” welfare.

Ahn shot back, saying “the tuition hikes came after the Roh government, under which Moon served as presidential secretary for civil society affairs, allowed national universities to autonomously set rates.”

He claimed his guidelines are more realistic and target a fundamental and more urgent problem -- curbing income disparities. 

On medical care, Moon vowed to ease the people’s burden by revamping the existing national insurance scheme, raise rates for high-income earners, and impose a monthly charge of 5,000 won for all households.

Ahn, meanwhile, plans to expand the coverage of the state-run insurance regime so as not to hike any insurance fees.

On the issue of North Korea, both Moon and Ahn have vowed to resume dialogue and build trust to bring a thaw in cross-border relations, as they shared the view that the current administration’s strictly reciprocal policy has failed.

But Ahn pointed out that Moon’s fixing the timeline for an inter-Korean summit could undermine Seoul’s position in the negotiations with Pyongyang.

Moon countered that the talks should be held as soon as possible when the next government has the political momentum to implement summit agreements.

“The previous administration’s inter-Korean summit came near the end of its term. Thus there were many agreements that were not implemented and handed over to the next administration,” Moon said.

“If elected, I would immediately send a special envoy to Pyongyang and push for the summit. Of course, this will proceed in close coordination with the U.S. and China.”

Regarding the suspended inter-Korean tours to Mount Geumgang, Ahn said safety measures should be in place before resuming the program.

Moon claimed that his stance was no different from that of the current Lee administration, stressing that the tours should resume quickly rather than setting preconditions for the resumption.

Minor differences aside, their foreign policy guidelines largely concern a balanced, flexible diplomacy in relations with North Korea and surrounding powers, and greater global commitments commensurate with Seoul’s middle-power status.

They also agreed on maintaining a strong alliance with the U.S. and continuing to deepen the strategic partnership with China; restoring the strained ties with Japan; and engaging more in multilateral diplomacy to help tackle global issues.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)

(Additional reporting by Song Sang-ho, Bae Hyun-jung and Shin Hyon-hee)