Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye pledges to introduce one month’s paid paternity leave so fathers can take care of their newborn babies.

Democratic United Party nominee Moon Jae-in seeks to halve the costs of child care, education and medical services.

Independent Ahn Cheol-soo is laying out a future in which no elderly people are below the poverty line and public housing accounts for 10 percent of people’s homes.

Welcome to the welfare state as envisioned by the three main presidential candidates.

Social security has been on the backburner in previous presidential elections as the nation strived to fight poverty and build wealth. 

After decades of brisk growth, the nation has a widening income gap and an aging population, bringing nursing, pensions, housing and generous public services to the fore in the 2012 presidential race.

“Disparity in social standing and income has increased due to dominant ‘neo-liberalism.’ The free market-based society also broke down the traditional big-family system that took care of children and the elderly,” said Lee Chung-hee, professor at the Department of Political Science, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“Voters have a shared understanding that the government now should take responsibility to take good care of its people and the candidates won’t miss it.”

The three are pinpointing better child care services, in particular, as most married couples find it difficult to raise children while working. All three pledged to provide free child care until age 5 and also some child benefits for parents.

Experts argue that the candidates need to devise more sophisticated measures to prevent benefits from being squandered in the hands of the high-income brackets and differentiate between households with different numbers of earners.

“The Saenuri Party’s universal child care plan introduced earlier this year stirred controversy because it was obviously designed to capture votes ahead of the parliamentary election in April. Candidates need to prioritize offering the benefits to those who really need them,” said Ku In-ho, a professor at Social Welfare Department of Seoul National University.

The government spends about 3 trillion won a year on child care, or 0.3 percent of gross domestic product, far less than Nordic countries, which spend 2-3 percent, Ku said.

Other than free child care, expanding pension and insurance coverage for the elderly are also common campaign issues, but candidates differ on the details.

Ruling party candidate Park announced a comprehensive welfare system tailored to all ages. The plan is based on the idea that the government provides welfare benefits so that people can secure jobs and a stable income.

“The government has to be responsible for people without jobs and should offer practical support for those who can work and who want to work,” she said in her recent speech.

Her key campaign policies also include providing education for high school students and expanding health care for the elderly and child benefits.

The DUP’s Moon has the most radical ideas on welfare among the three. Announcing his ambition to become “the first president of Korea as a welfare state,” the left-wing politician pledged to increase state benefits and halve the costs of child care, education, medical services and those associated with old age.

“For me, Moon Jae-in, (establishing a) welfare state is the philosophy of conducting state affairs and the future strategy for Korea,” Moon told reporters last week.

He unveiled the most detailed welfare plans so far, such as doubling the monthly elderly pension to 180,000 won ($165) by 2017, and introducing jobseekers’ allowance and 100,000 won per month child benefit for those raising children under the age of 12.

The DUP candidate’s plans also include placing a 1 million won ceiling on annual medical costs that need to be covered by the individual and covering all tests and treatments with proven efficacy with National Health Insurance.

His welfare plans are aimed at creating up to 100,000 social service jobs, and 150,000 senior care-related jobs, of which 45,000 will be accounted for by positions at government-funded facilities, Moon said.

Independent Ahn said Monday that if elected he will build 2,500 daycare centers over the next five years and operate after-school programs for elementary school students. The former entrepreneur also plans to offer 200,000 won ($183) per month for families in the bottom 70 percent, in terms of income, in child benefit. Working conditions for employees at daycare centers will be improved, Ahn said.

Last week, Ahn’s camp suggested increasing state housing to account for up to 10 percent of all housing by 2018, increasing the old age pension to a level equal to 10 percent of the average income and providing child benefits and facilities to support working couples.

However, the question still lingers as to how they will generate resources to actually realize their ideas. According to one estimate, the disparity between Park’s welfare expenditure and fiscal planning for the projects amounts to 8 trillion won on an annual basis, while that of Moon’s plan may run as high as 24.5 trillion won.

Critics question whether their projects can be implemented with proper financial planning. Increasing tax is inevitable but candidates haven’t talked about that in detail, for fear of losing votes.

“Increased spending on welfare eventually will be covered by more tax paid by young people. If they want to get more state benefits, voters should be also ready to pay more tax,” said Kim Kwang-doo, a senior economy policy adviser to Rep. Park, in a recent radio appearance.

The three presidential hopefuls floated ideas about levying heavier taxes on the rich and big companies as well as cutting the government’s expenditure in other sectors.

The conservative Saenuri Party is reportedly planning to raise value added tax while the opposition DUP plans to increase the maximum corporate tax rate to 25 percent from the current 22 percent.

Ahn’s camp is expected to suggest cutting government spending and tax exemption measures. Ahn’s measures also include stepping up anti-tax evasion measures and giving priority to welfare projects in budget allocations.

Businesses and conservative commentators have criticized them for populist pledges that would hurt growth and investors’ confidence.

Despite the criticism, increasing spending on welfare is inevitable to meet growing calls for social welfare, Ku of SNU said.

“The three candidates have showed their strong will to expand welfare benefits to their voters. However, they need to find stable resources to cover expenses. Suggestions like levying heavier tax on high-income bracket won’t cover the expenses long-term,” he said.

Korea spends approximately 9.5 percent of its GDP to welfare services while other OECD member countries spend an average of 20 percent, he added.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)