Kim Chong-in, a former interim chief of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, Tuesday added momentum to his recent gestures to build a new political power group with independent centrist figures.

The senior politician, however, continued to deny mounting speculation he will run in the upcoming May 9 presidential election.

The 76-year-old politician met with Hong Seok-hyun, former chairman of JoongAng Media Group, and Chung Un-chan, a former prime minister and independent presidential aspirant, in a closed-door breakfast meeting Wednesday.

As all three had either confirmed a bid in the forthcoming election or alluded at the possibility, their trilateral meeting added fuel to the burgeoning rumors on the formation of a new political power group.

Kim, who defected from the opposition party earlier this month amid conflicts with presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in, has repeatedly gestured at “playing a role” in forming an alliance of political clusters ahead of the election.

He also recently launched his own headquarters in Yeouido, where most of the political party offices and presidential candidates’ election offices are located.

Having served in both the conservative and the progressive camps, Kim has been deemed a likely figure to launch a new centrist group and possibly to challenge for the presidency. Another plausible scenario is that he may join hands with minor parties such as the second-biggest opposition People’s Party and its front-runner Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo.

The veteran politician, however, asserted that such issues were not part of their discussion.

“(We) have never spoken of such issues,” Kim said after the meeting, answering reporters’ questions on his possible candidacy.

He also dismissed a suspected sponsorship offer from former media mogul Hong, referring to the related questions as “nonsense.”

Despite Kim’s denial, his political road map for the presidential race seemed to take further shape Wednesday as his close aide within the Democratic Party announced his defection.

“I shall contribute to the creation of a (new) political group which may make the people happier,” said journalist-turned-lawmaker Rep. Choi Myung-gil at a press conference.

Though he refrained from directly mentioning the party’s presidential hopeful, Choi suggested that Moon and the Democratic Party are not qualified to steer the nation.

“In order to head into (a better) future, we must choose a presidential candidate who vows to fundamentally change the current power structure,” he said, adding that the main opposition party has failed to embrace minority groups and the voices of the people.

While Kim and his aide have refrained from elaborating, former Prime Minister Chung offered more information.

“Though we did not go as far as into the details, we brainstormed on the possibility of establishing an integrated government,” he told reporters.

The idea was not to form an “anti-Moon” alliance, but to discuss growth policies, focusing on economic democratization, shared growth and fair growth, added Chung, who is also chairman of the Korea Institute for Shared Growth.

Unlike Kim, Chung showed a positive response to the likelihood of a trilateral alliance, while Hong left the scene without answering questions.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)