TENSIONS ESCALATE OVER ELECTION COMMITTEE

[Anchor Lead]

The main opposition People Power Party is still wrangling over who will head its election campaign committee. Meanwhile, the PPP's former interim leader Kim Chong-in and presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl held a dinner meeting but failed to come to terms about whether Kim would join the committee. Meanwhile YOON also presented names for six top campaign committee positions to the party's supreme committee.

[Pkg]

The People Power Party's former interim chief Kim Chong-in hasn’t answered People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl’s call to join the party’s election campaign committee. But the two men met for dinner on Wednesday. The open-door dinner was speculated to be the final showdown. But they again failed to come to a conclusion.

[Soundbite] Kim Chong-in(Former PPP interim chief) : "I told him that it’s not possible if unnecessary issues surfaced while running the election campaign committee. (Did you accept the chief committee chair position?) I didn’t give him a definitive answer."

The key to the conflict lies with the naming of Kim Byong-joon as the standing chair of the election campaign committee. PPP leader Lee Jun-seok proposed changing Kim Byong--joon’s position, but Yoon was against the idea and instead opted to persuade Kim Chong-in to join the committee's board.

[Soundbite] Yoon Seok-youl(PPP presidential candidate) : "He promised to help work out everything and wanted more time to think about taking the chief chair position."

Rather than waiting for Kim Chong-in to decide, Yoon went ahead and launched his election campaign committee. He also presented names for six top campaign committee positions to the party's Supreme Committee. He added that outside figures will be invited to the election campaign committee after discussions with the Supreme Committee members. It is uncertain how long it will take for the two men to reach an agreement. But party members warn that the longer it takes, the more political damage Yoon would suffer.