South Korea: Minor party's Lee says 'no intention' of merging candidacy with PPP's Kim

Seoul, May 20 (IANS) South Korea's presidential candidate of the minor New Reform Party (NRP), Lee Jun-seok, said that he has "no intention" of merging candidacies with People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo, drawing a line about a possible candidacy merger with the election just two weeks away.

Lee made the remarks during an interview with SBS radio on Tuesday amid speculation over a potential merger of their candidacies to challenge Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung, the campaign's front-runner who holds about 50 per cent in recent opinion polls, according to Yonhap news agency.

"The process and procedure itself would appear very old-fashioned, so I have no intention of doing it whatsoever," Lee said.

When asked whether he was willing to consider the merger if key aides of former President Yoon Suk Yeol offered an apology, Lee said, "I have never set such preconditions, nor do I expect an apology."

Lee, a former PPP leader, left the PPP due to long-running feuds with Yoon and his loyalists in the conservative party and founded the NRP last year.

"Unless we garner votes from the youth and bring down Lee Jae-myung's approval ratings from above the 45 per cent range, all else is meaningless," he said, stressing that Kim cannot beat the DP's Lee.

A Realmeter survey showed Monday that the DP's Lee was leading Kim with 50.2 per cent support against Kim's 35.6 per cent. The NRP's Lee came in third with 8.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party candidate and the People Power Party candidate have geared up for their campaign rallies in the greater Seoul area, as they seek to reach out to centrist voters.

--IANS

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