PPP STAY DIVIDED ON ELECTION COMMITTEE

[Anchor Lead]

The People Power Party is divided over the organization of its election committee. The largest opposition party has bought some time by deferring the announcement of preliminary election committee to next week. It seems the delay is caused not by who will be in the committee but by who will take control of the committee, presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl or former leader Kim Chong-in.

[Pkg]

People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl is determined to form an integrated and expansive election committee. He believes the committee needs not only former PPP emergency committee leader Kim Chong-in, but also former Democratic Party officials Kim Han-gil and Kim Byong-joon.

[Soundbite] Yoon Seok-youl(PPP Presidential Candidate) : "Many people from outside our own party will help us with the election and participate in the campaign."

But Kim Chong-in is skeptical about Yoon’s idea. He wants a work-oriented election committee and a work-friendly environment. Rumors have circulated about the election committee being launched without Kim, causing Yoon and Kim to engage in a public power struggle. PPP leader Lee Jun-seok expects Kim’s intentions to be largely accepted.

[Soundbite] Lee Jun-seok(PPP Chair) : "It’s becoming almost a given that he will be at the top. The prolonged discussion probably means that his ideas are being incorporated."

In contrast, a member of Yoon’s campaign team stressed in a phone call with KBS that bringing in Kim Han-gil and Kim Byong-joon is fixed, a constant. The PPP named Kweon Seong-dong, one of the closest associates of Yoon, as secretary general to oversee the party’s financial situation. Meanwhile, Yoon met with Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming to discuss the shortage of urea solution and the situation specific to the Korean Peninsula.