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| An official from the National Forensic Service inspects People's Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo's campaign bus at Cheonan Dongnam Police Station in South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday, a day after two campaign workers for Ahn were found dead in the bus. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
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The candidates continued their campaign activities in a muted capacity to pay their respects to the campaign workers.
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| Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung bows his head in a tribute to two campaign workers who died in a bus for minor opposition candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, during a public speech in Gangnam District, Seoul, Wednesday. Joint Press Corps |
Throughout Wednesday, campaign vehicles of the DPK and the PPP stopped playing promotional songs, and party events remained solemn with no singing or dancing.
According to the DPK, Lee's campaign chief, Lee Nak-yon, and chief secretary Oh Young-hun attended the funerals of the victims in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.
Candidate Lee also made an unexpected visit to one of the funerals on late Wednesday and spend approximately 25 minutes for paying tribute to the victims. Lee privately spoke with Ahn during his stay at the funeral, but did not elaborate about their conversation to the reporters.
"I pray for the souls of the victims of the unexpected accident, and send my deep regrets to the bereaved family members," he tweeted.
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| People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol speaks in Gwangsan District, Gwangju, Wednesday. Joint Press Corps |
The PPP's Yoon visited the funerals himself after wrapping up his campaign schedule for the day. Yoon told reporters that he offered his consolences to the victims and Ahn, but did not talk about political issues.
"We pray for the two victims of the tragic accident, and offer our sincere condolences to the bereaved family members," Yoon's chief spokesperson, Lee Yang-soo, said in a statement. "To express our grievances, the PPP will not play campaign songs and will refrain from dancing or other activities during Wednesday's campaigning."
Yoon's campaign tour took him to four cities: Gwangju, Jeonju, Chungju and Wonju. During his stop in Jeonju, he criticized the ruling party for taking issue with his remark that he would investigate the Moon administration for corruption if he is elected.
"I said I would crack down on corruption scandals to establish the rule of law. But they spun my words to mean political retaliation," he said. "Corruption doesn't end with corruption. It ruins the lives of the people."
Ahn canceled all his scheduled appearances on Wednesday.
"I can't help but feel numb after this unexpected accident," Ahn told reporters after paying tribute to the victims on early Wednesday. "We will do whatever we can to address the situation."
According to Ahn's camp, Ahn may resume his campaigning after the victims' funeral services are finished.
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| People's Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo walks out of Dankook University Hospital in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday, after attending the funeral of a campaign worker who died in an accident. Yonhap |
The accident was the latest predicament for Ahn's campaign. On Sunday, his wife, Kim Mi-kyung, tested positive for COVID-19.
The talks for Ahn's proposal of unifying candidacies with Yoon and fielding a single candidate also lost momentum, as Ahn halted all campaign activities. On Sunday, Ahn proposed selecting a unified candidate between him and Yoon based on public opinion polls, adding that he would not consider any other means of selection.
Since then, Ahn has been putting pressure on Yoon to answer his call, but Yoon has remained silent.
On Tuesday, Ahn said he was optimistic about the single candidacy. "If he really wants a change of government, I think he will accept it," Ahn said.
PPP leader Lee Jun-seok, however, was skeptical about the offer. In a radio interview, he claimed that the timing for fielding a single candidate has passed. "We now have only 20-plus days left to the presidential election. If negotiations for the single candidacy begin, I think our party's candidate will inevitably have to spend quite a bit of time and energy to make it work, which means he will have to sacrifice time and energy from presenting his visions to voters," he said.
Lee declined to comment directly on the People's Party candidate's proposal to unify the opposition candidates.
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