Moon, Ahn agree on private talks on unified candidacy

Independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo (right) and Democratic United Party nominee Moon Jae-in attend a Buddhist event in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, Sunday. (Yonhap News)

Two opposition presidential candidates will meet Tuesday to discuss the proposed candidacy unification and political reforms, their aides said.

The meeting was arranged soon after independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo expressed his willingness in a public speech Monday to accept his Democratic United Party counterpart Moon Jae-in’s overtures.

The two candidates have long been expected to merge their campaigns to fight Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye, who is ahead of both in a three-way race in opinion polls.

“The two candidates will hold a one-on-one meeting without any attendants on Tuesday,” said Jeong Yeon-soon, Ahn’s spokeswoman said in a new briefing on the agreement between top secretaries of the two candidates.

The two will meet at Kim Koo Museum and Library in Yongsan, central Seoul at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, according to reports.

Indicating hurdles lie ahead of their negotiations, Ahn’s side stressed the meeting would focus on their vision for political reforms while the DUP anticipates fast progress in unifying the candidacy.

In his address to students at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, he repeated his position that shared belief in reforms should come ahead of a political deal.

“Discussing the unification method and format when each has yet to complete their pledges lacks sincerity,” Ahn said in the city, which is the traditional stronghold of the DUP.

“As such, it would be good for me and Moon to meet first to share each other’s values and philosophies and to agree on political reform.”

In addition, Ahn also put forward three conditions for the merger saying that he believed that Moon’s thoughts on the issue do not differ from his.

He said that the unification of candidacy should be able to overcome the established political forces, and that it should be a merger of values and philosophies.

Ahn also said that the merger should give rise to a result that can change the future.

“I don’t think that mine and Moon’s philosophies differ on this point,” he said.

“This time around, let’s achieve a unification that is recognized and blessed by all the public, and (the public) become one in bringing about a regime change.

While the suggestion is the most forward Ahn has been on the issue, the former academic did not completely abandon his earlier position that the merger should be discussed after completing his policies.

Moon and the DUP have been calling on Ahn to initiate the merger process since the former academic formally launched his campaign on Sept. 19. Ahn, however, had until recently stayed away from the topic repeating that the matter can only be addressed once “true political reform” has been achieved.

At the other end of the campaign merger issue, Moon continued to emphasize the necessity of the move and the need for the DUP to implement reforms.

“(Candidate) unification must be done, and if it is achieved in should be more than a simple merger and become alliance of values that share policies,” Moon said during the election committee meeting on Monday. He added that it was important for the party to take the first steps in reforming itself.

“I think that independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo will also be convinced if the civic societies, academia and the general public see the new politics committee’s political reform plans as the most logical and necessary measures.”

The DUP and Moon’s camp have undergone a number of changes that are aimed at distancing itself from established politics such as the resignation of officials with close ties to late former President Roh Moo-hyun as Moon’s campaign advisers.

The recently completed political reform committee of Moon’s camp has also called for the DUP’s leadership to step down as part of related efforts.

While Ahn avoided directly addressing the issue, the call to merge the two campaigns has spread to outside the political circle.

On Oct. 22, a group of 102 literary and art figures including Hwang Sok-yong began publicly calling for the two to merge, while Seoul National University law professor Cho Kuk and other progressive academics are set to begin relay one-man demonstrations from Tuesday.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)