Kim meets with former President Lee Myung-bak to woo more conservative voters
Lee Nak-yon, the former prime minister in the liberal Moon Jae-in government who also led the Democratic Party of Korea just five years ago, threw his weight behind conservative People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo on Tuesday, saying they would cooperate to prevent a "dictatorship.”
The ex-prime minister’s move comes as Kim has been urging politicians to join and form a broad coalition against Democratic Party candidate and front-runner Lee Jae-myung, ahead of next week's presidential election.
“(Both Kim and I) fundamentally agreed to prevent the rise of a monstrous country under a dictatorship and cooperate in our each and own way in preparations for the Seventh Republic filled with hope,” Lee said in a press conference at the headquarters of his party, the New Future Democratic Party, in Yeouido, Seoul.
Lee Nak-yon is currently an executive adviser of the New Future Democratic Party, which is affiliated with the Democratic Party, but says he is ideologically centrist.
Despite his and his party’s affiliation with the Democratic Party, the ex-prime minister said his latest decision was aligned with his belief that Lee Jae-myung’s possible election victory could lead to the “destruction of the rule of law and democracy.”
“I was a second-generation Democratic Party member after my father, but I’ve arrived at the conclusion that I couldn’t walk with them toward a path of a monstrous dictatorship which involves the destruction of the rule of law and democracy,” Lee Nak-yon said.
The former prime minister criticized the Democratic Party’s decision to push forward with Lee Jae-myung, who faces five ongoing criminal trials on 12 charges, including subornation of perjury and election law violations.
“The Democratic Party has decided to push forward with a candidate who has yet to resolve any of his legal problems and has chosen to walk down a path of a monstrous dictatorship. It dominates the country’s legislative, executive and judicial power to absolve one man’s legal risks,” he explained.
The ex-prime minister said he will pursue four goals with Kim, if the People Power Party candidate is elected as president: forming a coalition government to achieve unity, pushing for constitutional reform to open an era of “the Seventh Republic,” holding both presidential and general elections in the same year in 2028 and shortening the terms of both the president and lawmakers to three years.
South Korea so far has had one coalition government since establishing a presidential system of government in 1948. That was one formed and operated under President Kim Dae-jung and nine-term lawmaker and political heavyweight Kim Jong-pil, from 1998 to 2001. It was established with the goal of reforming the parliamentary system.
The country is currently under the constitutional and governmental system of “the Sixth Republic,” launched in tandem with the 1987 constitutional amendment. It marked the most recent constitutional amendment and played a significant role in advancing South Korea’s democracy, but critics have pointed to its limits in the current society over the past decade.
Current term lengths for the president and lawmakers here are five and four years, respectively.
Kim also met with former President Lee Myung-bak for lunch on Tuesday, in which the latter expressed support for the conservative candidate, according to People Power Party chief spokesperson Shin Dong-wook. Shin accompanied Kim to the lunch.
In the meeting that kicked off at noon and lasted 70 minutes, the ex-president advised Kim to continue making efforts to woo minor conservative New Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok. Lee Myung-bak also advised Kim to “meet with Trump in the US as soon as possible” to resolve outstanding risks surrounding tariff issues and the South Korea-US alliance.
Last week, Kim met with former President Park Geun-hye in Daegu.
Kim has repeatedly urged Lee Jun-seok to "merge" with him — effectively withdrawing his candidacy to endorse Kim — for the past month, but Lee has repeatedly staked out his position that he will see the campaign through to Election Day, a stance that remained unchanged as of Thursday noon.
In a Gallup Korea poll released Tuesday, Lee Jae-myung stood at 49 percent support, eclipsing Kim at 35 percent and Lee Jun-seok with 11 percent. The poll was commissioned by the JoongAng Ilbo and involved 1,004 respondents aged 18 or older.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
