Moon, Ahn agree on single candidacy

Officials of Park's camp labeled the agreement between Moon and Ahn as a “closed-door political maneuver” for an election victory. "Their alliance discussion is a mere political show that is attempting to fool the people," Rep. Lee Hye-hoon said. The prospect of Park becoming the country's first female president will face a major obstacle if the two liberal heavyweights successfully form an alliance.

7-point pact can’t  rule out last-minute discord

The two leading liberal presidential contenders, Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent Ahn Cheol-soo, agreed Tuesday to unify their candidacy before final registration on Nov. 26.

The decision came after a closed-door meeting between the two after Moon’s months-long wooing of Ahn to form an alliance.

The move has apparently eased growing concern about a possible split in the liberal vote, but fell short of producing a detailed roadmap for the selection of a unified candidate.

“They agreed to pick a single candidate before the registration and will hold talks to make it happen,” Park Kwang-on, a spokesman for the Moon camp, said.

He said the two reached a seven-point agreement, including the candidacy merger before the registration deadline, and “a joint declaration for new politics.”

Yoo Min-young, a spokesman for Ahn, said the two contenders agreed to set up a task force comprising of three representatives from each camp to come up with political reform measures to be announced in the declaration.

Yoo added that the seven-point pact also includes a commitment to revise the Election Law to extend voting hours to 8 p.m. from the current 6 p.m.

“They decided to work together to extend voting hours,” he said. “Toward that end, they agreed to launch joint campaigns, including a petition drive.”

The move to revise the law is opposed by their rival Park Geun-hye, the presidential contender of the ruling Saenuri Party, which controls the majority in the National Assembly.

Yoo also noted that Moon and Ahn shared the view that they should give up all vested interests regardless of whether this would undermine their chances of becoming the single candidate.

He maintained that most of the ideas discussed came from the IT-mogul-turned-professor, Ahn, hinting that tension will continue to build up in their rivalry.

“Ahn led the talks and proposed the majority of the plans, such as the candidacy merger before the registration deadline and campaign for extended voting hours,” Yoo said.

Following the meeting, Moon’s aides said there was still time left for the two to hold a primary, rather than just relying completely on opinion poll results.

Park Sun-sook, the head of Ahn’s campaign, expressed concerns over such remarks, saying this is the time for the two contenders to work together to formulate a policy direction to reform politics, rather than arguing over the details of the candidacy.

Officials of Park’s camp labeled the agreement between Moon and Ahn as a “closed-door political maneuver” for an election victory.

“Their alliance discussion is a mere political show that is attempting to fool the people,” Lee Hye-hoon said.

The prospect of Park becoming the country’s first female president will face a major obstacle if the two liberal heavyweights successfully form an alliance. <The Korea Times/Lee Tae-hoon>