People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum noted on the 20th that "former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo made it very clear during our conversation that he will never join hands with the Democratic Party."

Lawmaker Yoo said on CBS Radio that "(meeting former Mayor Hong) I talked about the profile picture of Hong wearing a blue tie on (social media) due to many speculations about him being recruited by the Democratic Party and suggestions for the Prime Minister position, and he seemed not to recognize that this was a problem."

On December 19, the People Power Party's campaign committee head Yoo Sang-bum, external affairs committee head Kim Dae-sik, external affairs deputy head Jo Kwang-han, and spokesperson Lee Seong-bae arrive in Hawaii, USA, to persuade former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo to join the campaign committee, meeting him there. /Courtesy of Spokesperson Lee Seong-bae

Yoo said, "(Former Mayor Hong) clearly said during our conversation that he supports candidate Kim Moon-soo and wishes for Kim's victory," adding, "I believe he can play a role in ensuring Kim's victory in some form."

Lawmaker Yoo met with former Mayor Hong, who was staying in Hawaii after failing to win the primary, as part of a special envoy delegation to persuade him to join Kim Moon-soo's election campaign committee.

The special envoy delegation consisted of lawmaker Yoo, lawmaker Kim Dae-sik, former Namyangju Mayor Cho Gwang-han, and spokesperson Lee Seong-bae. The special envoy delegation delivered a handwritten letter from candidate Kim Moon-soo to former Mayor Hong.

Yoo said, "If former Mayor Hong returns to the party, I'll accept all the requests and fully entrust the judgments and roles to him, so I conveyed (candidate Kim's) message to please help," adding, "Former Mayor Hong said he would think deeply about it and agreed to meet again this evening for another discussion."

Yoo stated, "The biggest issue we are facing in the current presidential election is that our People Power Party candidate is not unified, resulting in very weak support for candidate Kim among the supporter groups," noting, "Former Mayor Hong first pointed that analysis out, and if he joins, I expect him to play an important role in that area."

He continued, "If former Mayor Hong joins the campaign committee this time and goes out for the election campaign, he could play a very important role in the unification process between candidate Kim Moon-soo and Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok."