From top left, clockwise: Democratic Party's presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung, People Power Party's candidate Kim Moon-soo, New Reform Party's Rep. Lee Jun-seok and Democratic Labor Party's Kwon Young-gook (Yonhap)
From top left, clockwise: Democratic Party's presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung, People Power Party's candidate Kim Moon-soo, New Reform Party's Rep. Lee Jun-seok and Democratic Labor Party's Kwon Young-gook (Yonhap)

The first televised debate for the June 3 election will take place Sunday, with four out of the seven presidential candidates eligible to join the discussion, which will focus on South Korea's economic challenges and trade uncertainties.

The liberal Democratic Party of Korea's candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the conservative People Power Party's candidate Kim Moon-soo, the minor conservative New Reform Party's Rep. Lee Jun-seok and minor progressive Democratic Labor Party's Kwon Young-gook will take part in a live TV debate scheduled for 8 p.m. Sunday.

South Korea's election authorities confirmed Wednesday that the four candidates qualified for the TV debates under the Public Official Election Act.

The Democratic Party's Lee and People Power Party's Kim both qualified as nominees from parties with five or more parliamentary seats. The other two candidates qualify by representing parties that won at least 3 percent of the total votes in the proportional representation quota for previous elections.

The two-hour debate will address ways to revive economic growth and improve ordinary people's quality of life, as well as strategies to cope with US trade challenges with the advent of the Donald Trump administration and measures to enhance national competitive edge, according to the National Election Commission.

South Korea's economy in the first quarter of this year was estimated to have shrunk by 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to data from the Bank of Korea.

In the meantime, the issue of US tariff threats against South Korean goods remains, even as Trump initiated trade talks with the conservative administration then led by then-acting president Han Duck-soo. Han, a former prime minister, had sought to run for president as a conservative candidate, but failed to persuade Kim Moon-soo to concede the nomination he won in the People Power Party's primary.

Sunday's debate will be followed by two more sessions of four-way debates, each scheduled May 23 and May 27, at 8 p.m. The former will touch on social issues and the latter will focus on political, foreign affairs and national security issues.

The three other candidates who could not make the cut — Gu Ju-wa of the minor far-right Liberty Unification Party, independent candidates Hwang Kyo-ahn and Song Jin-ho — will be given a chance to take part in an extra TV debate scheduled for Monday at 10 p.m.

All the debates will be aired on all South Korean terrestrial TV networks, namely Korean Broadcasting System, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and Seoul Broadcasting System. South Korea has aired TV debates among presidential election candidates since 1997.


consnow@heraldcorp.com