Former liberal pres. candidates blame each other for loss

“Ahn Cheol-soo was more competitive (than former presidential candidate Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party).”

This was what Kim Min-jeon, a professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul and a former member of the working-level negotiation team “Joint Declaration on New Politics” of the election camp of former independent candidate Ahn, said Friday. Supporters of Ahn and Moon began a blame game over the left`s election defeat, with criticism of each other growing heated.

On an MBC radio show, Kim said, “Even on the day of his resignation, former independent candidate Ahn was ahead of then (ruling party) presidential candidate Park Geun-hye in a showdown between the two. It’s very disappointing that (the opposition camp) talked a lot about changing the government but never achieved it,” adding, “The operators of the election campaign (of the Democratic United Party) must assume responsibility for a poor election strategy (that led to defeat).”

On the result of the Dec. 19 election, the professor said, “The result was even worse than that of the April 11 general elections, in which the liberal camp was harshly criticized for losing an election that should have been easy as pie to win."

In the general elections, the Democratic United Party and the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party earned a combined 47.75 percent of the vote while the conservative camp of the ruling Saenuri Party and the Advancement Unification Party earned 46 percent, he added.

Rep. Lee Mok-hee, former campaign strategy head of Moon’s camp, said over the phone, “It’s useless to talk about who should`ve been the candidate.”

Rep. Jun Byung-hun also told a radio show, “Moon could have won the election. Truly meaningful soul-searching or self-reflection must involve finding the causes of the defeat.”

irun@donga.com