In announcing his candidacy in September, the Democratic United Party’s Moon Jae-in put forward three changes ― of regime, politics and era ― as his objectives.

In his efforts to achieve his objectives, what he and the DUP referred to as a “blast furnace election committee” was created to conduct Moon’s election campaign.

As suggested by the name, the election committee drew individuals from a wide range of fields, and from within the party regardless of factional alignment. The DUP has suffered from factional in-fighting for sometime, between those with ties to former President Roh Moo-hyun and those whose roots within the party go further back to President Kim Dae-jung.

In addition, Moon’s election camp is unique in that it is divided into three smaller camps, each of which serves a specific function.

The camps are the Minjoo Camp, which is centered on the party; the Future Camp, consisting of experts from various fields; and the Citizen Camp, made up of Moon’s supporters and civic activists.

With the camp having a comparatively complex structure, it has a large number of constituents.

However, there are those who stand out from the crowd for reasons that range from their political and professional background to the roles they hold within the camp.

In terms of political background, chief of the social integration committee Yoon Yeo-jun stands out the most among Moon’s key policy aides for his long-running ties to the conservatives.

In 1997, he served as an environment minister under the Kim Young-sam administration, before going on to serve as Lee Hoi-chang’s state affairs aide in 1998. At the time, Lee was the chairman of the Grand National Party, which has since transformed into the Saenuri Party.

For the 2004 elections, Yoon also worked as the deputy chief of the Grand National Party’s campaign committee under Park Geun-hye.

Yoon’s role in the 2004 general election has an additional significance as the election took place a month after the GNP was at the center of efforts to impeach President Roh, who was one of the oldest and closest associates of Moon.

The former environment minister had continued to operate in spheres unaligned to Moon as recently as last year when he functioned as a political mentor to Ahn.

However, it is Yoon’s conservative background that prompted Moon to personally recruit him.

“(Moon and Yoon) share the opinion that wisdom of integration that will enable Korean society divided by ideology, region, faction and other factors to coexist must be found,” DUP’s Rep. Park Young-sun said following the announcement of Yoon’s recruitment in September. She also described the development as part of Moon’s efforts for achieving “national integration” by taking “rational conservatives” into the fold.

“Moon not only has good character, but also has good judgment on the difficult realities Korea faces. He has balanced and broad-minded thoughts,” Yoon had commented on his joining the progressive candidate’s campaign, adding that he would not have joined had he been offered a role directly related to the election.

However, despite Yoon’s role within the campaign being removed from election strategies, the recruitment has not been without its critics.

The move has been referred to as being “too much” by Kang Geum-sil, while Ewha Women’s University professor Cho Ki-sook commented that she was left “dumbfounded” by the development. Cho had served as a presidential public relations secretary while Kang is a former justice minister of the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

While Yoon works to support Moon in achieving social cohesion, the committees for two of the most prominent issues of this year’s election ― economic democratization and welfare ― are being headed by former presidential aides under the Roh administration.

Chief of Moon’s economic democratization committee professor Lee Joung-woo of Kyungpook National University is a man with beliefs that align well with the concept of economic democratization as well as ties to former President Roh, having served in advisory roles from 2003 to 2006.

Lee Joung-woo is said to be a follower of Georgism, the school of thought based on the writings of the 19th century U.S. economist Henry George.

The main tenet of Georgism is that the economic benefits arising from land ownership should be shared by society in general, instead of being concentrated on those who hold land.

Lee Joung-woo’s belief in this concept is apparent in the measures he orchestrated during the Roh administration.

He played a key role in introducing the so-called Oct. 29 measures in 2003 designed to calm the country’s overheating real estate market.

The measures included an aggregate land tax, increasing the real estate transfer tax for households that have three or more residential properties and tightening regulation on the trading of rights to purchase properties under construction.

Georgism’s focus on landowners in effect amounts to increasing taxation on the rich, aligning with Moon’s plans to expand welfare programs without “burdening the people and small- and medium-sized enterprises.”

Lee Joung-woo is also a proponent of reforming the country’s family owned conglomerates, or chaebol. He is said to be behind Moon’s chaebol policies that include placing a tighter investment ceiling on large companies and limiting non-financial companies’ ownership of financial businesses.

At the head of Moon’s welfare state committee is Yonsei University professor Lee Hye-kyung.

Establishing a welfare state is an essential part of Moon’s campaign. From the outset of the campaign, he has emphasized welfare, and selected it as one of the “five doors” ― job revolution, welfare state, economic democratization, political reform, and peace and coexistence ― he plans to open if elected as president.

The DUP candidate has also referred to transforming Korea into a welfare state as his “philosophy of conducting state affairs and the future strategy for Korea,” and that only as a welfare state can Korea achieve advancement of democracy and a market economy simultaneously.

Lee Hye-kyung and Moon appear to see eye-to-eye on the issue.

“As (Moon’s directives) are not to create fragmentary elections pledges, but to draw up a long-term blueprint for a systematic welfare state, it is a very happy development for us (welfare) experts,” Lee Hye-kyung said at the meeting of the welfare state committee in early October. She also said that her committee will make the preparations necessary to make 2013 the “first year of the leap toward (establishing) a welfare state.”

Whether she is up to the challenge remains to be seen, but her credentials support Moon’s choice.

The Yonsei University professor’s specialties are perfectly matched to Moon’s plans. Lee Hye-kyung specializes in issues concerning the welfare state, poverty, social security and welfare measures for women.

She has chaired the Korean Social Security Association and the Korean Association of Women’s Studies in the early 2000s, and was appointed as the chairwoman of the board of directors of the Seoul Welfare Foundation in March this year.

The 64-year-old academic also served in the Roh-administration as chief of a presidential advisory committee on addressing economic polarization.

Aside from the structure and policy-related elements, Moon’s election camp stands out from those of other major presidential candidates in the inclusion of a large number of arts and literary figures, and the large number of election committee co-chairpersons.

Among the more notable literary figures holding key posts within the camp is the poet Ahn Do-hyun.

Ahn, who currently teaches creative writing at Woosuk University, is well known for his works that criticize various aspects of society.

However, Ahn’s societal activities have not been limited to his writing.

In 2002, Ahn took part in a 49-day national tour of musicians and writers calling for an end to regionalism, and in 2004 he lent his voice to the call to retract the National Assembly’s decision to impeach Roh.

Ahn made the transition from civic activism to politics earlier this year when he was chosen as a member of the panel reviewing the DUP’s proportional representative nominees in the run up to the April general election.

In September, Ahn was chosen to represent the civic society in the planning committee for Moon’s election campaign, before being named one of the co-chairs of the election committee.

Another noteworthy figure in close proximity to the DUP’s Moon is professor Moon Chung-in of Yonsei University.

Moon Chung-in, who is not related to the candidate, is a prominent political science academic with progressive leanings.

While Moon Chung-in does not hold an official post within the camp, he has been involved in campaign-related activities such as the one-on-one conference with the candidate regarding the Oct. 4 declaration announced following the inter-Korean summit in 2007 between Roh and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)