Kim continues to push candidacy 'merger,' Lee remains unmoved
With Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung maintaining his strong lead in opinion polls, People Power Party's presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo appears to be courting the endorsement of his minor conservative rival.
New Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok, meanwhile, has continued to rule out the possibility of a merger.
"(Lee and I) share the same thoughts and same policies, but are currently separated because (the People Power Party) has made a wrong move," Kim told reporters following a morning policy goal briefing aimed at Koreans in their 20s and 30s.
By "wrong move," Kim referred to the then-ruling party's decision in 2022 to remove Lee Jun-seok, who was then the People Power Party's chair, from leadership, accusing him of misconduct.
In recent weeks, Kim has repeatedly urged Lee Jun-seok to unify his candidacy with him as the conservative candidates struggle to gain ground on front-runner and liberal Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung in the polls.
A Realmeter survey released Monday showed Lee Jae-myung leading with 50.2 percent of public support against Kim's 35.6 percent. Lee Jun-seok came third with 8.7 percent in the same survey, conducted with 1,509 respondents aged 18 or older from Wednesday to Friday. With Kim and Lee Jun-seok's combined support adding up to some 44 percent, observers say that the two might stand a chance against front-runner Lee Jae-myung after a merger.
When asked how he plans to pursue a merger with Lee Jun-seok's "negative stance" on the matter, Kim stressed that the 40-year-old politician's views were aligned with his.
"(Lee Jun-seok) was not only the leader of our party at one point, but his views are no different from mine, as shown during the (televised) debate held the previous day," he explained.
Four presidential candidates — Kim, Lee Jae-myung, Lee Jun-seok and Kwon Young-kook of the minor Democratic Labor Party — held their first televised debate ahead of the June 3 presidential election late Sunday.
Despite Kim's hopes, Lee Jun-seok told reporters "there will be no candidacy merger," after attending a debate hosted by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Monday morning. "My political stance (regarding unifying candidacies with Kim) has not changed," he said.
Lee Jun-seok has accused the party of suspending and unseating him in 2022, yet asking him for help in a moment of need. But he has taken a softer stance on recent calls from People Power Party Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, co-chair of the main conservative party's election campaign committee, to "join forces with Kim" to win against Lee Jae-myung.
"I'm open to discussions with Rep. Ahn," Lee Jun-seok added. "At the same time, while I can feel his sincerity, it is difficult at this stage to accept such (proposals)."
Kim and Lee Jun-seok both attended the morning debate hosted by Oh, where they were complimentary of each other in an amicable atmosphere.
People Power Party interim leader Rep. Kim Yong-tae said he plans to "discuss many things with Lee at the right timing," when asked by reporters about a merger scenario, following his meeting with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik in the morning.
However, one political commentator painted a bleak future for the People Power Party, claiming it has already lost the momentum in the presidential race due to Kim's failed merger with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo earlier this month.
"The People Power Party leadership's decision to push Kim, who is currently labeled by voters as a far-right candidate, while failing to successfully achieve a merger between Kim and Han, has led to a loss in momentum for the conservative bloc," Park Sang-byeong, a political commentator and professor at Inha University, said via phone.
In South Korean history, there have been two successful mergers that have led to a candidate's victory in the presidential elections. Ahead of the 1997 election, liberal National Congress for New Politics candidate Kim Dae-jung merged with the United Liberal Democrats candidate Kim Jong-pil, leading to the former's victory.
Just three years ago, center-right minor People Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo dropped his candidacy in support of the People Power Party's Yoon Suk Yeol ahead of the 2022 election, propelling the since ousted Yoon to the presidency.
A short-lived and dramatic merger between liberal Millennium Democratic Party candidate Roh Moo-hyun and the conservative National Integration 21 candidate Chung Mong-joon ahead of the 2002 election also helped Roh get elected. Chung, however, deserted Roh mere hours before the polls opened on Dec. 19, 2002, with observers pointing to an apparent power struggle between the two.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
