Kim Jaewon: "The Spirit of 'Hwaibudong'... Candidate Unification is the Path to the Greater Good"
Proposes 50% Daegu Citizen Poll and 50% Responsible Party Member Vote
Yoo Youngha: "Highly Appreciate the Unification Proposal... Open and Frank Discussion"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] Former People Power Party Supreme Council member Kim Jae-won, who declared his candidacy for Daegu mayor, proposed candidate unification to his primary rival, lawyer Yoo Young-ha, on the 16th. In response, Yoo replied, “I will meet as soon as possible.”
On the same day, Kim posted on Facebook a message titled “I propose candidate unification to candidate Yoo Young-ha,” stating, “At a desperate and urgent time when many Daegu citizens are worried about the mayoral election, I believe that demanding candidate unification with a ‘hwaibudong’ mindset is the way to achieve the greater good.” Hwaibudong is a four-character idiom meaning to associate with others while maintaining one’s own principles. Kim had previously maintained that unification was unnecessary due to differences in candidacy background and goals with Yoo, but after struggling in recent opinion polls, he appears to have changed his stance ahead of the final candidate decision.
In a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 17th, Kim explained the purpose of his unification proposal, saying, “Many citizens wanted unification,” and “Today is the only day to unify.”
Lawyer Yoo immediately expressed his intention to accept the proposal. In a response letter sent to reporters, he said, “I highly appreciate former Supreme Council member Kim’s decisive proposal for unification, and I also take it seriously,” adding, “I will meet Kim as soon as possible.” He further stated, “Since the party primary is imminent, I will have an open and honest discussion with Kim about what is best for Daegu citizens and then inform you of the results.”
Kim mentioned specific methods when proposing unification. He said, “According to the party’s candidate primary rules, the unified candidate will be decided by combining 50% Daegu citizen opinion polls and 50% responsible party member votes, and the losing candidate must immediately withdraw from the primary,” adding, “The responsible party member vote should be replaced by a two-person race opinion poll using the Ansim number party member list already distributed.” He continued, “Since it is not possible to conduct mobile phone opinion polls using Ansim numbers due to time constraints, landline phone or media-released opinion poll results can be used for the citizen opinion poll.”
He also emphasized the need for a unification opinion poll on the 20th before the primary party member vote and opinion poll, stating, “Unification negotiations must be concluded by the 17th, and the polling agency must be selected and reported on the 18th.”
Kim said, “As long as there are no unreasonable demands, the unification process will not be difficult,” and added, “I look forward to candidate Yoo’s response.”
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