South Korea's two liberal presidential candidates were to meet on Thursday to seek a breakthrough in setting the rules on selecting a single candidate to take on their conservative rival Park Geun-hye, camp officials said, as time is running short before the Monday deadline.
Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo have been in talks in forming an alliance before the registration deadline on Nov. 26, but their negotiators have failed to hammer out differences over the way how to conduct the nationwide surveys.
The latest meeting comes as Ahn accepted Moon's offer to meet in person to confirm a rule to select a standard bearer during the first television debate on Wednesday night.
Camp officials said the two will meet later in the day in Seoul without elaborating on the time and place.
With neither Moon nor Ahn ready to drop out of the race to support the other, the merger negotiations got bumpy and Ahn once suspended the talks, accusing Moon and his party of manipulating the process. It prompted the resignation of the DUP's chairman and senior party officials en masse on Sunday.
Campaigns for the December 19 polls have been dominated by discussions about who will face the Saenuri Party's front-runner, the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee who is popular among conservatives.
While polls suggest the 60-year-old Park would easily win in the event of a three-way race, they put her neck-and-neck if she competes only against either Moon or Ahn.
Ahn, the software mogul-turned-politician, draws huge support from young liberal voters, partly due to his upright and clean image. During the TV debate, the 50-year-old said he is a better candidate to face off against Park and his lack of political experience will make him pick the best people for his Cabinet without political consideration.
Moon, the former chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun, argued that he is the better candidate because he has a solid party base and political experience necessary to be president. (Yonhap News)
