Health benefits, pension funds headline presidential debate over social issues
Four leading candidates in the upcoming June 3 presidential election fiercely clashed over social issues in their second televised debate, Friday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., discussing ways to overcome political conflicts within society, resolving energy issues and how to procure funding for the national health insurance and pension programs.
Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party, Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party and Kwon Young-kook of the Democratic Labor Party were asked how they would address factional divides within Korean society, which have deepened in light of the political turmoil following Yoon Suk Yeol's December imposition of martial law and his subsequent impeachment and removal from the presidency.
Top two candidates play blame game
Lee Jae-myung and Kim Moon-soo, the top two presidential candidates, locked horns as they jockeyed to blame each other and the actions of their respective parties as major reasons behind the country’s widening social divide.
“We must respect our opponents and attempt to talk to them, acknowledge them and compromise, but we try to eliminate them,” Lee of the liberal Democratic Party said, saying such attempts to “eliminate” opponents constitute the main cause of the social divide. “The most extreme form of this is the latest insurrection and martial law case.”
Lee said that failure is reflected in former President Yoon’s “insurrection case” tied to his failed Dec. 3 martial law bid. Lee said that overcoming the current political turmoil stemming from martial law and “bringing strict judgment” to those involved in the insurrection case would be “the most important solution” to patch the social divide.
Kim, meanwhile, pointed to lying and corruption ― taking an apparent jab at Lee who is facing five different trials ― as catalysts fueling the growing divide.
Kim attacked Lee by referring to charges of election law violations, while stressing that "corrupted” elements must be eliminated for social unification.
“For us to truly achieve social unification, the fraudsters must be gone. Shouldn’t there be no corrupted person in order for us (to achieve) unity among the people?” Kim said at the debate.
Kim lambasted Lee and the Democratic Party for summoning the Supreme Court chief to a parliamentary hearing after the top court on May 1 overturned a lower court’s acquittal of Lee on charges of an election law violation.
Earlier this month, the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, led by the Democratic Party, summoned Chief Justice Jo Hee-de to appear at a parliamentary hearing to explain the court’s handling of the case. However, the Supreme Court submitted a statement saying it would be difficult for Jo and other justices to attend "for various reasons."
“After the Supreme Court sent back the case (to a lower) court, believing Lee is guilty after lying and violating the election law, he has been trying to do as he pleases with the Supreme Court, such as summoning the chief justice to a hearing, attempting to impeach (the chief justice) and appointing 100 top justices,” Kim said.
The Seoul High Court had acquitted Lee of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 presidential election campaign, which the Supreme Court overturned and sent back. The appeals court has since postponed the first hearing of Lee’s retrial on election law violation charges until after the June 3 presidential election.
South Korea's widening social divide has been characterized by growing income inequality, gender conflicts and political polarization.
Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party, the youngest presidential candidate in the country's history, stressed that replacing the old generation with the new in the politics is the most important step forward. Criticizing the Democratic Party candidate for what he called instigation over his past comment over coffee's production cost being 120 won (9 cents), he said the previous generation in Korean politics is dividing society based on social class and generation.
Kwon Young-kook, meanwhile, said that fair distribution of wealth is crucial to unity within society. He vowed to work for the rights of 13 million workers in unstable jobs getting paid low wages, to enact a comprehensive anti-discrimination act and to eradicate conspiracy theories of election rigging claimed by supporters of Yoon and what he called "far-right powers."
New Reform Party's Lee criticizes lack of funding plans
The minor conservative candidate Lee ferociously attacked Lee Jae-myung, the clear front-runner of the presidential race so far, as he accused the liberal candidate of populist welfare policies without viable plans to acquire the necessary budget. He said that Lee's plan to expand nursing programs for senior citizens would require an additional 15 trillion won and that Lee's plan to regulate excessive benefits could only cover some 2 trillion or 3 trillion won.
Front-runner Lee said that 15 trillion won was just a claim made by Lee Jun-seok, and that he would push for the plan in a feasible range.
When Lee Jae-myung threw the question back to Lee Jun-seok and asked how he would address this issue, Lee said he would cut down on benefits for medical treatments without scientifically proven effects.
Concerning pension reforms, the Democratic Party's Lee said the New Reform Party candidate's pledge for two separate tracks for older and younger workers would cost 609 trillion won, accusing him of continuing to stoke divide along lines of generation and gender.
The younger Lee retorted that the current plan without such a division would force most of the younger generation to lose at least 30 million won per person, in terms of their benefits compared to the subscription fee they have to pay.
The two candidates also clashed on the energy issue, as Democratic Party candidate stressed the importance of renewable energy, but the New Reform Party candidate labeled the previous liberal administration's nuclear phase-out policy under ex-President Moon Jae-in as "unscientific energy policies."
He accused the liberal candidate of lacking faith in Korea's nuclear power plants, to which the latter Lee denied and said he simply acknowledged safety risks. The Democratic Party's Lee vowed to increase the percentage of renewable energy, solar power, wind power and pumped-storage hydroelectricity to cover energy needs.
Kim, Lee Jun-seok align on energy, pension reform
While the New Reform Party’s Lee clashed with the front-runner on numerous issues, he offered similar views to People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo on energy policy and pension reforms at Friday’s debate.
Kim stressed the importance of further utilizing nuclear power as the country’s main source of energy.
“Because the previous Moon Jae-in administration pushed policies focused on the phase-out of nuclear power, the nuclear ecosystem here has collapsed,” Kim said. “This led to damages amounting to trillions of won.”
Kim said nuclear energy is essential for supporting the expansion of high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence as it would provide a “cheap and stable” source of energy for such industries. A system to generate renewable energy should be pursued in tandem, he added.
Lee of the New Reform Party also criticized the liberal bloc’s stance in pushing for the phasing out of nuclear power, calling for “reasonable climate policies based on science and common sense and aligned with the global standards."
On the issue of national pension reform, the two conservative candidates pledged to prioritize “alleviating the burden on the future generation” while pursuing change.
“The latest pension reform has a problem and was met by backlash from young Koreans (mostly in their 20s and 30s) ― I plan to immediately launch a second reform (when I’m elected),” Kim said.
Lee Jun-seok called the latest pension reform ― the first structural change implemented by the government in 18 years ― “fake.”
“It’s a fake reform that changed only the numbers and did not touch on the structure,” Lee criticized, adding that the new system places a long-term financial burden on young Koreans, while older generations “get more.”
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
