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Source : The Korea Times
Nobember 28, 2007
With about three weeks left to go for the presidential election slated for Dec. 19, all candidates are going all-out to win the hearts of voters with many attractive pledges.
At present, Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party is leading the presidential race, followed by independent candidate Lee Hoi-chang and Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party, according to KBS.
Each candidate has his own idea about the ideal way of leading Korea in the education, labor and welfare fields. However, the former Supreme Court justice and two-time GNP presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang said he has not yet confirmed his pledges on the matters as he recently joined the race.
Therefore, except those on education, most of the comparisons are focused on pledges between the largest opposition leader Lee Myung-bak and the liberal party leader Chung.
General viewpoints
As is well known, both Lees label themselves conservatives ¡ª valuing the free will and efforts of individuals and the market rules governed by ``invisible hands'' rather than government regulations. Chung, on the other hand focuses more on the government's role in mediating people's social and economic status.
Other minor presidential candidates such as Moon Kook-hyun of the Creative Korea Party, Lee In-je of the Democratic Party, and Kwon Young-ghil of the Democratic Labor Party are also campaigning their own vision fo the ideal society.
Education policy
All three major candidates have suggested quite specific projects in the education field since it is one of the most important issues among people.
Lee Myung-bak stands for the full autonomy of universities' selecting their own students. He also asks each student to take individual responsibility for his or her academic outcome. Therefore, some people fear that should he become President, the amount of private tuition fees will snowball and polarize education along the lines of the incomes of families.
He plans to establish more schools that run their own curricula and rules. The planned 300 private schools will be subsidized by the government.
Experts said the project can provide students with opportunity to develop their own style of learning. However, some said it can worsen the overheated private education market for all parents as many children will want to go to the 300 specialized schools. They said also that universities might only want to pick students from these prestigious schools, causing further inequity among high schools.
Chung has come up with a rather innovative idea, calling for the abolishment of the university entrance examination. He said the current college scholastic ability test should be phased out by 2011. Instead, applicants for universities will be evaluated on school record and volunteer participation.
Experts said if Chung sticks to his plan, high school education will improve greatly.
Unlike his others, the former GNP candidate Lee Hoi-chang has been quite stern about his educational policies. He is focused on upgrading the class content. He said he will reduce the number of students per class to 20 and hire more assistants at school offices so that teachers can focus on teaching rather than administrative issues.
He said instead of a retirement age for teachers, he would adopt a special wage system that would allow them to work for longer. He said he will hold teacher's license examinations so that they will have to have their licenses renewed every 10 years.
Experts said most of his ideas do seem very attractive, but they need to be more refined and specific.
Moon is pledging the establishment of autonomous public schools where classes can be divided according to student's academic abilities. He also suggests a joint diploma system between national universities.
Lee In-je promises to loosen regulations on the establishment of private schools or specialized schools while Kwon vowed to regulate the private education supplement and standardize all universities.
Labor policy
Lee Myung-bak and Chung Dong-young have quite opposite views when it comes to labor issues. While Chung stresses the settlement of the non-permanent worker issue, Lee remains silent on the issue.
Experts assume that Lee will be very cautious when speaking about his labor pledges for his conservative viewpoints may clash with the labor unions and activists. He, in fact, refused to answer the Federation of Korean Trade Union's (FKTU) request to hold a conference with them on Nov. 19.
Naeil newspaper once quoted one of his close aides as saying that Lee is not accustomed to dealing with labor unions. The paper reported that ``Lee thinks some labor unions in large corporations pursue illegal collective actions though they are paid 50 million won a year.'' Therefore, there is wide speculation that once he becomes the President, he will clamp down on strikes and other union activities.
He also limits the youth unemployment issue to one involving individuals. In his meeting with Mokwon University students, he asked the students to search not only for good jobs but ones that are less pleasant, because they need to work anyway.
Instead, he stresses flexibility in the job market, adding that he is more of a business friendly person, possibly owing to the fact that he once was CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction.
Therefore, observers say he will fix the current temporary worker protection law as requested by businessmen.
However, Chung, vowed to inherit his political predecessor Roh Moo-hyun's labor policy. His main concern is the non-permanent worker policy.
He said he will take care of the matter hands-on by reassigning the number of eight million non-permanent workers to permanent status.
On Nov. 19 at his meeting with the FKTU, he said he seeks a healthier relationship between workers and management and he is oppose CEOs going into politics.
He will also concentrate on providing good quality jobs for young people. He said that aircraft construction and the aerospace industry and North and South Korea's industrial collaboration are good sources for job creation.
However, his pledges are almost the same as those of President Roh's five years ago, some experts criticized. They say Chung needs more originality and need to be more specific to attract voters.
Welfare policy
All candidates agree that the government needs to guarantee a certain quality of life to nationals. While Lee Myung-bak finds the key in providing jobs, Chung Dong-young focuses on helping people directly by improving the system.
Lee once said, ``The best welfare is working. '' He said he will focus on providing the right environment for people to gain employment. For those who cannot work ¡ª senior citizens, physically or mentally challenged, children ¡ª he pledges to provide free medical and childcare services.
He stressed that while he was a Seoul mayor he provided jobs for homeless people. He said the state will decide on the amount of subsidy according to an individual's efforts to seek employment.
Lee also showed a strong desire to help the elderly get work. He said the physically challenged, too, will be provided with rehabilitation programs.
He has said that he will reallocate 20 trillion won of non-urgent government funds to welfare.
Chung, on the other hand, is concentrating on providing better services for the people. His largest focus is on providing free childcare and free education till a child graduates from high school. He also stands for free school meals from 2009. He says the project will raise the low birthrate and let the middle-class and underprivileged people enjoy better quality of life.
His other main area of concern is for the elderly. He once had a rather uneasy relationship with senior citizens in 2004, right before the general election. He said in an interview that he would like the ``seniors to take a rest at home during election.'' Therefore, experts assume his pledges for older people are quite important. He has promised more tax cuts and better aid for dementia patients.
He also pledges to expand medical care services for low incomer earners.
Link : http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_view.asp?newsIdx=14487&categoryCode=117 |
