Seoul: People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo on Thursday demanded the conservative party's leadership stop forcing him to unify his candidacy with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, with the party struggling to form a single candidacy with Han to challenge Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim made the remarks a day after he and Han failed to reach an agreement on whether to team up against the DP candidate, with the presidential election less than just a month away. Kim expressed his dissatisfaction by stating, "I demand that the party leadership stop trying to bring me, a legitimate candidate, down. I will not yield to any injustice."
Kim was picked by the PPP as its presidential candidate earlier this month. Han, who had served as an acting president, also declared his presidential bid but stated he will not register for the presidential race if there is no agreement with the PPP on unifying candidacies. Kim proposed that he and Han each campaign for a week before holding a televised debate and public opinion polls to decide on the candidacy unification next week.
On Kim's proposal, Han's side remains firm on seeking the unification before May 11. Han earlier declared he would not register for the race unless an agreement is reached with Kim before May 11, the deadline for official candidate registration with the National Election Commission.
Shortly after Kim's press conference, Kwon Young-se, the PPP's interim leader, announced that the PPP will continue efforts to unify the candidates before the deadline, saying it will proceed with preference polls Thursday and Friday as planned. PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong also criticized Kim, calling his press conference a "pathetic" attempt to cling onto his "petty" candidacy.
With four days remaining before the official candidate registration deadline, the two have been seeking to consolidate conservative support by fielding a single candidate to counter the DP's Lee, who is currently leading in opinion polls.