What They Said is a regular series on the quotes Korea is talking about.
On February 13, the first day of presidential candidate registration, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Party sent a proxy to the National Election Commission to register on his behalf, having learned that his wife had just tested positive for Covid-19. Going into quarantine, Ahn made his scheduled speech via YouTube and made an unexpected proposal to the other main opposition party, the People Power Party:
My wife, Professor Kim Mi-kyung, was notified this morning that she has tested positive for Covid-19. I was in front of the National Election Commission [for my candidate registration], but unavoidably, I had to cancel my plans in order to go and get tested myself and had to register via proxy. In addition, I have had to hold my scheduled press conference here on YouTube. I kindly ask for your understanding.
To be honest, my wife actually has an underlying medical condition. It seems that she contracted Covid while helping my campaign and doing medical volunteer work despite her condition. Her symptoms are worse than expected, and she is currently being taken to hospital. She has been working hard amidst difficulties, and as her husband, I am extremely sorry [for putting her in this situation]. I am sorry and regretful, because all I can say right now is that I hope she can overcome it. I hope that all of you also take special care of your health at this time. …
Here, today, I propose that the opposition parties choose a unified candidate…to go on the path of a change of government, the end of the old regime, and national unity. However, the selection of a unified candidate…must be more about what we should be unifying for rather than who that candidate should be.
The choosing of a unified candidate of the opposition parties must be about solidarity and unity for the future. It must contain all the visions for a change of government, politics, and the times, and the result has to be an overwhelming victory. An overwhelming victory is possible only when we show the people, through a national cause and a rational process of unification, that our path is the way to the future.
In no other way than through innovation fully supported by the people and an overwhelming victory in the presidential election can the next president achieve both reform and political stability over the next two years with the current opposition seats of just over 100 against the more than 180 seats of the ruling party. If the opposition candidate wins by only a narrow margin, he is likely to become a vegetative-state president.
Therefore, for an overwhelming victory, the method of choosing a unified candidate must be a rational one that both parties and their supporters, as well as the people who have not yet made their decision on a candidate, can agree on. Only then can we persuade our supporters to achieve full unity, a harmonious unification of our parties, and scalable support, no matter who becomes the candidate.
I believe that it will not be that difficult if the candidates clear their minds and think about the future of the people and the country before themselves.
First, after jointly announcing and promising to implement the next government’s national vision and innovation tasks, a single candidate should be selected through public polls, with the other as his running mate to achieve an overwhelming victory.
After the victory, we will be able to work together to cover each other’s shortcomings so that the next government can become a successful one.
If we leave it to the people to decide who is more qualified to lead the future, the polls to decide on the candidate will not be complicated or time consuming.
It was I who laid the foundation for a change of government by deciding to concede in the last by-election for Seoul mayorship. As a result, the People Power Party’s candidate, not me, was chosen by the people, and the opposition was able to win an election for the first time in a long time.
There were methods and issues that were agreed upon at the time. Therefore, there is no need to go back to square one when discussing the unification polls.
Based on common sense, if we respect the existing method agreed upon by both parties in the last Seoul mayoral by-election, the polls can be concluded in a short period of time as Yoon Suk-yeol has said.[1]
I look forward to candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s sincere response to my proposal.
The reason I’m making this proposal is that, even though I keep saying that I’ll see the election through to the end, people are tenaciously attaching the single-unified-candidate label to me. Therefore, I have decided that preemptively making this proposal to leave everything up to the people’s judgment and evaluation and walking my own path is the way to change the government in the name of Ahn Cheol-soo.
I have now expressed my position on choosing a unified candidate. I have decided to leave everything to the people’s judgment and choice. From now on, I will walk the path I wish to walk even more firmly. …
[2]— Ahn Cheol-soo, People Party presidential candidate, February 13, 2022.
Ahn’s proposal to the People Power Party to join forces and choose a single candidate between himself and Yoon Suk-yeol was a surprising one, as only five days prior, on February 8, Kwon Eun-hee, the floor leader of Ahn’s People Party had said definitively that there was a “zero percent possibility” of choosing a unified candidate between the People Power Party and the People Party.
After Ahn’s speech, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung posted on Twitter:
I hope for Professor Kim Mi-kyung’s fast recovery. I have heard that she has an underlying medical condition and that she tested positive for Covid-19. I’m sorry to hear it. I wish her all the best. I also extend words of consolation to candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.
[3]— Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, February 13, 2022.
Regarding Ahn’s proposal for a unified presidential candidate, Lee evaded the question by saying:
This is a crisis situation, and the most important political task at hand is to overcome this crisis and look after the lives of the people.
[4]— Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, February 13, 2022.
The Democratic Party has not issued an official statement on the matter.
When asked about Ahn’s proposal, Yoon Suk-yeol also gave a vague answer:
I think it is a positive sign that he has made such a proposal based on the goal of a change in government. I have heard about the polling idea, and I will consider it, but there are aspects that are regrettable.
[5]— Yoon Suk-yeol, People Power Party presidential candidate, February 13, 2022.
Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, who has been constantly at odds with Ahn, criticized Ahn and his proposal. On his Facebook page, he posted:
Since you go on Naver[6] every day and search only for your name, you believe that the world revolves around you and people are only talking about choosing a unified candidate.
How can we share with someone who acts as though he is demonstrating great kindness by giving 15 seconds of his designated time to another candidate during the debate?[7]
[8]— Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, February 13, 2022.
Justice Party’s Sim Sang-jung also commented on Ahn’s proposal on Facebook:
Sim Sang-jung will firmly stand against two-party politics
In this year’s presidential election, candidate Ahn Cheol-soo has strongly expressed his will to overcome the two-party system.
But today, he made a unification proposal to candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.
It’s sad and disappointing. He proposed this under the justification of ending the old system and bringing about a change of government, but how is it possible to break with the old system by joining hands with it?
What happened to his proclamation that a change in power between the two parties[9] would just be one party with vested interests replacing another?
Isn’t this a case of unification being used and abused as a means to extend the incompetent two-party system that has lost the trust of the people?
The Republic of Korea’s top priority on the road to great transformation is political change.
We need to end the hostile symbiosis of the two parties, which is forcing the people to vote for the lesser of two evils.
I, Sim Sang-jung, will firmly stand against 35 years of bipartisan politics that has turned the Republic of Korea into a winner-take-all society.
Workers, young people, women, numerous minorities and the underprivileged—those who have been erased by the two big parties—I will continue to pave the way for the majority of ordinary people in this era to become the mainstream in politics.
[10]— Sim Sang-jung, Justice Party presidential candidate, February 13, 2022.
With less than a month to go before the presidential election, which will be held on March 9, the dynamics seem to be constantly shifting. It will likely be a close election, so we’ll just have to wait to find out who will become the next president of the Republic of Korea.
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