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| Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo | Rep. Moon-Jae-in |
By Jun Ji-hye
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo is apparently at odds with members of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) over inter-Korean and national security policies in the process of drawing up a manifesto for their new coalition party.
As was widely expected, Ahn has adopted a conservative stance in contrast to the DP's relatively more progressive approach, according to party insiders.
The coalition will be officially launched on March 26.
Ahn's side suggested Tuesday that the main opposition party should agree to ditch the "June 15 South-North Joint Declaration and October 4 Joint Declaration" from the coalition's platform.
The DP members of the committee drawing up a joint platform initially signaled they would accept Ahn's suggestion. But other party lawmakers soon refuted this.
Ahn tried to remove the controversy Wednesday, saying that his camp had never made such a suggestion.
"The two declarations are precious, and the nation has to respect and make them succeed," said Ahn.
But his apparent retraction failed to keep many DP members from expressing their anger.
Rep. Choi Jae-sung and some of his colleagues said in a joint statement: "We once again assert that the spirit of the two declarations must form the framework of the opposition coalition."
Other DP lawmakers also strongly criticized the Ahn camp for allegedly challenging the success of the inter-Korean declarations, seeing this as an attempt to exclude followers of the late liberal Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun from the coalition.
The June 15 declaration was drawn up between Kim and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, while the October declaration was a result of an inter-Korean summit under the Roh administration.
Rep. Moon-Jae-in, former DP presidential candidate who served as chief of staff under Roh, made it clear that he was opposed to leaving out the two declarations from the platform.
"The declarations are not things of the past. They are the future direction that the South and North should proceed in," Moon told reporters.
Moon and Ahn have already had confrontations over the inter-Korean issues.
In the lead-up to the presidential election, they held different opinions over resuming tours to Mt. Geumgang, a scenic resort on North Korea's east coast, when the two had a televised debate before deciding on single opposition candidate.
Ahn, who ran as an independent, abruptly dropped his bid after this debate, leading to rumors that he was disappointed with Moon.
The speculation has been further fanned because Ahn has yet to meet Moon since the coalition decision, though he has seen other senior members of the DP.
Meanwhile, the joint policy-setting committee on new politics announced the results of its first meeting.
The committee said that the coalition party should seek to increase the number of lawmakers selected under the proportional representation system.
"This will break up the monopoly of existing political parties based on regionalism," said the committee in a statement. "It is necessary to set up a better party system that will sufficiently reflect the will of the people."
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