By Chung Min-uck
The efforts of two liberal parties to form an alliance and thereby increase their chances to defeat the ruling Saenuri Party in the April 11 National Assembly elections was at a standstill, Friday.
The two sides found it difficult to narrow the differences on key issues.
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) and the minor Unified Progressive Party (UPP) decided on an open-ended deadline for their talks to form the alliance, after the original one passed Thursday.
Earlier, the DUP agreed not to field its members in 12 electoral districts including six in Seoul to let the UPP run “unified” candidates against the ruling party.
However, the two parties failed to reach a consensus on how many constituencies they will designate to hold open primary competitions in to select unified candidates.
Reportedly, the DUP called for 30, whereas the UPP wanted 50.
“The two sides almost reached an agreement Thursday, but all of a sudden the UPP wanted an increase in the number of electoral districts where primaries are to be held,” said an official from the DUP.
On Friday, Shim Sang-jung, UPP co-chairman, and Roh Hoi-chan, UPP spokesman, called for holding primaries in their constituencies, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and Nowon-C, Seoul, respectively.
The two were originally included in the list of districts where the DUP agreed not to field its candidates.
Reportedly, the two sides are at odds over their policy directions too.
Han Myeong-sook, DUP chairwoman, called on UPP leader Lee Jung-hee to sit down to reach a breakthrough. But Lee has yet to respond to the call.
The UPP said the two sides have agreed to abolish the country’s free trade agreement with the United States (KORUS FTA), while the DUP denied this saying “we have not agreed to dissolve the trade pact.”
The main opposition party had previously demanded a renegotiation of the KORUS FTA.
The discussions remain ongoing, however, differences on the issues are making it difficult to predict whether they will reach an agreement.