DP PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS' RIVALRY

[Anchor Lead]

Two presidential hopefuls of the ruling camp, Lee Kwang-jae and Chung Sye-kyun, agreed to join hands, with Lee dropping his bid to back Chung. This merger is seen as a move to form a unified front against the front-runner Lee Jae-myung. The Democratic Party's presidential contenders again focused on targeting the Gyeonggi Province governor at the second televised debate held yesterday.

[Pkg]

Lee Kwang-jae, one of the ruling party's presidential hopefuls, decided to drop out of the race and join forces with former prime minister Chung Sye-kyun.

[Soundbite] Chung Sye-kyun(DP Pres. Hopeful) : "Lee and I will join hands and cooperate to pursue forward-looking economic policies and create politics of innovation and integration."

This merger will surely help Chung win greater support. But many party insiders believe it is also the first move to build solidarity against Lee Jae-myung among those opposing him. They say it is the starting point of their strategy to prevent Lee Jae-myung from garnering a majority of votes in the primary and to send one of them to the final round. The confrontation between the Gyeonggi-do province governor and his opponents is growing more obvious.

[Soundbite] Park Yong-jin(DP Pres. Hopeful) : "I think you have a preposterous understanding regarding basic income. I am concerned you are going in the wrong direction."

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(DP Pres. Hopeful) : "Basic income is not my primary campaign promise. My top priority is a policy focused on economic growth. But basic income is also an important, key policy. So I will push for it."

[Soundbite] Chung Sye-kyun(DP Pres. Hopeful) : "Regarding the scandal, you just said, "Let's stop talking about it...""

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(DP Pres. Hopeful) : "Do you want me to take down my trousers again? (This is different from it) What do you want from me?"

Apparently aware of this situation, DP Chairman Song Young-gil warned those loyal to President Moon Jae-in against moving to exclude and oppose Lee Jae-myung. In the process, a derogatory term for extreme supporters were used.

[Soundbite] Song Young-gil(DP Chairman) : "We cannot protect and guard the president right from the moment his staunch supporters called 'daekkaemoon' complacently oppose a certain candidate, even saying they would convert to the opposition camp, instead of backing him."

In response, some presidential contenders denounced the party chief for breaching the principle of fairness and neutrality in election management. The online community of party members were inundated with messages criticizing him.