"If You Don't Want to Merge, Just Say No," Lee Jun-seok Criticizes Ahn Cheol-soo

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the joint meeting of party leaders and senior lawmakers held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 21st. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim So-young] Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, sharpened his words regarding Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, who responded to Lee’s proposal for a summit between the two party leaders by saying he would "find a solution through other channels," saying, "If you don’t want to merge, just say you don’t."

On the 25th, Lee wrote on his Facebook, "The People’s Party negotiation team leader (Kwon Eun-hee, floor leader of the People’s Party) made strange remarks on social media claiming that we are demanding the succession rights of proportional representation seats, and the party leader refuses to meet while saying that we have no intention to merge," criticizing the response.

He added, "First of all, no one has ever legally asked for the resignation of proportional representatives, and if the People’s Party proportional representative resigns, even if the merger happens, the 4th proportional candidate of the People’s Party will succeed based on election standards," and criticized, "I wonder why they are making up stories when the matters decided by law cannot be changed through inter-party negotiations."

Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 19th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

He continued, "No one forced Ahn Cheol-soo to declare he would not run in the presidential election or to declare a merger," and questioned, "No one told him not to demand shares. Weren’t these declarations made first by the People’s Party during the Seoul mayoral unification process to win?"

Then he said, "So did our negotiation team ignore the People’s Party, which is demanding shares behind the scenes?" and added, "Despite the possibility of internal opposition, we said we would positively consider everything except the party name, such as joint regional chairpersons and amendments to party rules. If you just don’t want to merge for political reasons, just say you don’t," delivering a sharp rebuke.