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People Power Party presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a press conference on Feb. 27 held at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido regarding negotiations on merging campaigns with Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party. (pool photo)

In a surprise move on Sunday, People Power Party presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol laid bare details of behind-the-scenes negotiations with People’s Party nominee Ahn Cheol-soo on reaching a deal to combine campaigns in order to avoid splitting the opposition vote.

In his remarks, Yoon laid the blame for the breakdown in negotiations on Ahn.

In response, Ahn disputed the accuracy of Yoon’s claim, saying he had “concluded that [the proposal from Yoon’s camp] was not worth considering.”

With the ballots scheduled for printing on Monday, the situation appears to be barreling toward disaster as the behind-the-scenes discussions between the two candidates’ camps on presenting a single opposition candidate ended up turning into an emotionally charged battle.

After canceling his canvassing schedule that day, Yoon disclosed details about the negotiations during a press conference at the People Power Party’s offices in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood.

“At 9 o’clock this morning, I received a final notification [from Ahn’s election camp] that the merger discussions were off,” he said.

The negotiations were reportedly entrusted to lawmaker Chang Je-won for the People Power Party and the People's Party’s Lee Tae-kyu, who’s managing Ahn’s campaign.

Chang and Lee had engaged in two rounds of discussions from 2 pm to 4 pm on Saturday and from 12:40 am until 4 am on Sunday. According to Yoon, all that remained was to coordinate the schedule for the two candidates to meet when he received a unilateral notification that the negotiations were off.

“Mr. Ahn asked us to give him more of a justification for [why he should] withdraw from the race,” Yoon said. Emphasizing that Ahn had indicated his willingness to pull out, Yoon said that Ahn’s proposal for a decision based on opinion polling was “never on the table” for the consolidation discussions.

Yoon’s decision to disclose details about the negotiation efforts — after observers had previously commented on his take it or leave it attitude toward consolidation discussions — was interpreted as an attempt to blame Ahn for the breakdown. It was also seen as a strategic move in case no deal could be reached on a single opposition candidate, allowing him to sidestep responsibility and rally supporters to achieve a de facto “consolidation” through the vote.

After the press conference, Yoon resumed his canvassing schedule in the Daegu/North Gyeongsang region with a visit to Pohang.

“If Mr. Ahn decides on a time and place, even if I’m on my way to the provinces, I’m willing to turn the car around and go see him myself to talk things over, heart to heart, with him,” he said, suggesting that he hadn’t completely closed the door to negotiations.

People’s Party presidential nominee Ahn Cheol-soo speaks to reporters following a campaign stop in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, on Feb. 27. (pool photo)

Ahn countered by saying that the claims of a breakdown with only the schedule coordination remaining were untrue.

Meeting with reporters after stumping that afternoon in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, Ahn said that Yoon’s camp had “made an offer this morning,” but added, “It wasn’t really any different from the previous ones, so we concluded that it wasn’t worth considering.”

He also said his camp had “continued calling for a contest to be determined by the public,” but said there had been “no position” shared by the People Power Party.

“They wouldn’t even say why they were against [a public opinion poll primary] if they were against it,” he added.

“It’s not right for the other side to claim we never presented any negotiation ideas when we did do so [with the polling plan],” he said.

Commenting on Yoon’s reference to Lee Tae-kyu as his fully “empowered representative,” Ahn said, “I was told that [Yoon’s camp] suddenly contacted him yesterday and proposed talks.”

“We agreed that Rep. Lee should go there and hear what they had to say. There’s never been any concept of a ‘fully empowered representative’ with me,” he added.

Ahn went on to dismiss the possibility of future negotiations.

“I’ve already declared that time is up for these kinds of talks,” he said.

By Jang Na-rye, staff reporter; Kim Hae-jeong, staff reporter; Kwak Jinsang, staff reporter

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