Oh Se-hoon "Met Ahn Cheol-soo Yesterday... Agreed on Unification Before Candidate Registration"

People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon (left) and People’s Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, who are running in the Seoul mayoral by-election (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] Amid growing attention on the opposition's unification for the Seoul mayoral race, it has been revealed that People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon and People’s Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo met on the 7th.

On the 8th, candidate Oh appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and stated, "I met with candidate Ahn for quite a long time yesterday."

Oh explained, "I said, 'Let's meet openly and honestly first,' and that led to the meeting. We talked a lot about politics in general, including the fundamental reasons why we do politics."

He continued, "Candidate Ahn also shares the view that without trust and faith as a foundation, even if unification happens, it cannot be a beautiful unification that consolidates the support bases of both sides. Yesterday was a very meaningful time, and I think it was a significant meeting that can help in the upcoming unification negotiations."

However, Oh noted that there was little mention of practical matters during the meeting. He said, "There are many talks about whether it will be number 2 or number 4, and whether it is a competitiveness survey or a suitability survey. The two of us agreed not to be swayed by such things. We believe that if we just grasp the main framework, this unification will proceed in a desirable direction."

The unification is likely to be finalized before the candidate registration period. Oh said, "We agreed that (the deadline) should naturally be before the candidate registration period." The Seoul mayoral candidate registration period is from the 18th to the 19th of this month.