Moon Jae-in rules out early merger talks with Ahn Cheol-soo

Leading opposition presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in said Thursday he is not overly preoccupied at the moment about merging with independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, expressing confidence in winning over both Ahn and ruling party hopeful Park Geun-hye in the Dec. 19 polls.

Moon's remarks came as Ahn displayed an ambiguous attitude towards a possible merger with the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) hopeful in a candidacy-declaring news conference on Wednesday, and Park was struggling with falling approval ratings due mainly to successive corruption scandals involving her aides.

Attending a meeting of the DUP, Moon said he would never have announced his bid to seek the presidency if he did not think he could win.

Ahn's long-expected bid created a three-way competition, with Moon also competing against the ruling Saenuri Party's candidate Park Geun-hye, who won her nomination last month.

Park and Ahn have generally run neck-and-neck in the polls in a hypothetical two-way race for several months, but Moon has started to make up ground in recent days, and in some polls is competing as an equal to his chief rivals.

"Park's limits have clearly been shown, while Ahn will now have to compete in a real political environment," the human-rights lawyer turned politician said. He claimed that since he won the DUP's nomination, there is no way he can be defeated in a one-on-one race with rivals.

Park has come under fire for expressing ambivalent views about controversial events that took place during her late father President Park Chung-hee's 18-year rule, while Ahn, with no experience as a politician, and running as an independent, has never been scrutinized in regards to his abilities to lead South Korea.

Moon added that there is no reason to press Ahn or cling to negotiations to seek a single opposition candidate at present.

Ahn also said Wednesday that he believes there is no immediate need to engage in talks with Moon so one candidate can be picked to compete with Park.

Moon said he plans to move forward at his own pace to win the trust of the people. (Yonhap)