The Democratic Party of Korea and the Progressive Party reached a dramatic agreement on candidate unification in South Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongnam) and Ulsan on Tuesday, two days before early voting begins for the June 3 local elections.
Kim Kyoung-soo, the Democratic Party's candidate for Gyeongnam governor, was confirmed as the unified candidate of the broader progressive bloc on the same day.
Kim held an emergency press conference at the Gyeongnam Provincial Government press center and announced, "Jeon Hee-young, the Progressive Party candidate, and I have agreed on unification."
"I sincerely thank candidate Jeon for making this difficult decision for the thorough liquidation of the insurrection. The election landscape in Gyeongnam has now become clear," Kim said. "The choice is between a candidate who will unite Gyeongnam residents from rational conservatives to progressives and lead the future of Gyeongnam with that strength, or a candidate who cannot even utter the words 'oppose insurrection' and is dragged along by 'Yoon Again' (Yoon Suk-yeol again) and forces opposing impeachment, taking Gyeongnam back to the past."
Jeon, who agreed to the unification, said, "Liquidating the insurrection is an unavoidable calling of the times and a demand of the people, but in Gyeongnam, numerous attempts are now being made to turn back the wheel of history under the name of conservative consolidation."
"We can never hand over Gyeongnam, which has been built with the blood and sweat of provincial residents, as a base for the revival of insurrection forces and far-right forces. This is why I made the decision for unconditional unification with candidate Kim," she explained.
A unification agreement was also completed in Ulsan.
Cho Seung-rae, secretary general of the Democratic Party, held a press briefing at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on Tuesday afternoon and said, "We have agreed to resume the Ulsan mayoral unification with the Progressive Party."
"As the Democratic Party secretary general who took responsibility for and led the unification agreement, I deeply apologize for the bewilderment and shock that the Progressive Party leadership and members must have felt due to the breakdown of the unification process," Cho said.
Earlier, Kim Sang-wook, the Democratic Party's candidate for Ulsan mayor, and candidate Kim Jong-hoon had agreed to hold a unification primary for the Ulsan mayoral race based on a 100% citizen opinion poll on May 23-24. However, Kim Sang-wook's camp scrapped the unification agreement on May 24, the final day of the poll, saying "circumstances suspected of organized intervention by certain forces have been detected."
