South Korean presidential election: conservative candidate unification has effectively disappeared = Early voting begins today (29th)

Early voting for the South Korean presidential election, which will be held on the 3rd of next month, began today, the 29th. So far, Lee Jae-myung, the candidate of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, has been in the lead, while the ruling party
The People Power Party's candidate Kim Moon-soo and the opposition New Reform Party's candidate Lee Jun-seok are in hot pursuit. The People Power Party has brought in Lee Jun-seok and is running together with the party's official candidate Kim.
The aim was to unify the two parties, but the negotiations failed. Korean media reported that "the unification plan is off" (Hankyoreh). Advance voting will take place today, the 29th, and the 30th.
The voting period included weekends, but this time it will be held only on weekdays. In relation to this, the Democratic Party of Korea said, "Office workers who work in large industrial complexes cannot vote on weekdays due to work."
The National Election Commission has requested that the matter be addressed. Each candidate is scheduled to vote today, the 29th, the first day before the election.
Jae Myung has been gaining an advantage. Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party, which wants to maintain power, has brought in Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party and is trying to unite with Kim, the party's official candidate.
Candidate Lee Jae-myung was the "solo winner," but in a survey conducted by the polling company "Gallup Korea" on 20th to 22nd of the month among 1,002 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, the approval rating of candidate Lee Jae-myung was
The poll showed that Kim's performance was up 6 points from the previous week's poll to 45%. Meanwhile, candidate Kim rose 7 points to 36%, and candidate Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party also rose 2 points to 10%.
The difference in approval ratings between Lee Jae-myung and Kim, which was 100 points, has narrowed to 9 points. If you simply add up the approval ratings of Kim and Lee Jun-seok, Kim's approval rating exceeds that of Lee Jae-myung, and the People Power Party is even more in favor of Lee Jun-seok.
On the 23rd, the party's emergency response committee chairman Kim Yong-tae called on candidate Lee Jun-seok to "overwhelmingly unify and work together to advance on the path to victory."
However, Lee Jun-seok has consistently indicated that he will not engage in unification negotiations, and on the 22nd, he said, "What the people who voted for me in the National Assembly elections expect from me is
"I have no intention of disappointing people and unifying the party," he said. He also told reporters at the time, "Please refrain from asking me any more questions about unifying the party."
According to a South Korean media outlet, E-Daily, citing a source in the political world, candidate Kim made an appointment with candidate Lee Jun-seok on the early morning of the 29th to negotiate a unified government.
Kim visited the National Assembly without permission, but was unable to meet with Lee. Candidate Kim told reporters, "I called him many times, but he didn't answer, so I have no way of meeting him."
"I think we need to continue our efforts until we get the votes," Kim said. When asked by a reporter what he would like to tell Ri if he met him, Kim replied, "I want us to unite and put an end to the monstrous dictatorship.
"We must prevent this," he said, calling Lee Jae-myung a "monster" and calling for the prevention of the birth of a Lee administration. However, Lee Jun-seok criticized not only the Democratic Party of Korea but also the People Power Party.
As the two sides remain intent on fighting to the end as a "third force," the news agency Yonhap News Agency reported on the 28th that "the possibility of unifying the two sides has virtually disappeared." Other major media outlets have shared the same view.
On the 29th, the Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported that "unification is gone" and that "the presidential election will be held in a three-way structure." The Korean newspaper Hankyoreh also reported that "Lee Jun-seok,
"The vice-president's determination to run to the end of the term remains unwavering, and both parties have decided that if they can maintain the momentum of their recent increases in approval ratings, it will be an election worth fighting for."
The three TV debates ended on the 27th, and early voting began today on the 29th.
The results of the poll are prohibited from being made public. With the field now effectively divided into three, each candidate plans to focus all their efforts on campaigning in the final stages of the election.