Rep. Park Geun-hye, presidential nominee of the ruling Saenuri Party, asked her four former competitors in the primary race to help her win the December presidential election.
Park held a luncheon meeting with Kim Moon-soo, Rep. Kim Tae-ho, Yim Tae-hee and Ahn Sang-soo in a move to achieve unity within the party.
Party chief Rep. Hwang Woo-yea and Secretary-General Seo Byung-soo also attended the meeting. The former rivals exchanged friendly talks for some five minutes before going into a closed-door session.
“Now that the party primary is over, I hope that you will offer your help to the party,” Park said.
The four welcomed her reconciliatory move and agreed to back her campaign, according to Park’s spokesperson Lee Sang-il.
The former rivals shook off the critical remarks they exchanged throughout the primary.
“Park made the right decision to pay respect to the graves of former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun,” Kim Moon-soo was quoted as saying.
Rep. Park won over 84 percent of the valid votes in the national convention earlier this week after a heated competition in which the underdogs focused their criticism on the former party leader.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
