Published : 2012-11-28 20:21
Updated : 2012-11-28 20:25
Updated : 2012-11-28 20:25
The knife-edge race for the presidency between Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in is becoming anachronistically ideological, as the two attack each other over failed dogmas and administrations of the past.
An avoidable fact is their starkly contrasting backgrounds: Park of the Saenuri Party is the first daughter of a former dictator and Moon of the Democratic United Party a former student activist who fought against his iron-fisted rule.
With the election having conveniently become a two-way contest of conservative versus progressive, observers say the disparities between the two are expected to grow in the remaining three weeks.
They, however, cautioned against excessive negative campaigning, citing how swing voters were already fed up with established politics’ two-way rivalry.
“The crucial 10 percent of voters are those that have once supported former independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo on the platform of new politics but have not expressed any preference upon Ahn’s withdrawal. Rather than the two parties engaging in ideological negative attacks, differentiating themselves more in policy will help the race in what little time that remains,” said politics professor Yun Seong-yi of Kyung Hee University.
Backgrounds
Park and Moon are a year apart, with Park being born on Feb. 2, 1952, and Moon on Jan. 24, 1953.
Park, the first child of three, was born into the family of late President Park Chung-hee and first lady Yook Young-soo, at Samdeok-dong in Daegu. Moon, also the first born in his family, was born in Geojae of South Gyeongsang Province. His late father Moon Yong-hyeong was a refugee from North Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953).
By the time Park was graduated from elementary school, her father was president of South Korea, with the family moving into Cheong Wa Dae, where they stayed for 18 years.
Moon, on the other hand, recalls living in poverty. Moon is said to have helped his mom deliver briquettes to make ends meet.
Both Park and Moon excelled in school, with Park graduating first in class from Sacred Heart Girls’ High School in Yongsan. Moon also entered Kyungnam High School, an elite school in Busan, without the benefit of any private tuition.
For college, Park chose to major in electronic engineering at Sogang University in 1970, while Moon enrolled into Kyung Hee University, College of Law, with a full scholarship in 1972.
Their lives began to pull further apart in the mid-1970s.
While Park returned to Korea from her studies in France upon the assassination of her mother in 1974, becoming an acting first lady, Moon was arrested in 1975 for leading a rally against Park Chung-hee’s Yushin Constitution. After serving time, he was forcibly conscripted to the Special Forces brigade.
Toward the end of the 1970s, upon Park Chung-hee’s assassination, Park left Cheong Wa Dae with her sister and brother and returned to their previous home in Shindang-dong. She has said she suffered seeing the former aides of her father become turncoats.
Moon, meanwhile, was released from the military and soon passed the bar examination in 1980. During his training, Moon married his wife Kim Jeong-suk.
From the early 1980s to late 1990s, Park remained out of public attention, tending to the scholarship foundation started by her parents.
Moon, after failing to become a judge due to his criminal record, returned to Busan, where he was introduced to then-lawyer Roh Moo-hyun, who later became his lifelong friend and political comrade. Moon and Roh made names for themselves as labor and human rights lawyers.
When Roh entered politics in 1988, Moon stayed on working as the human rights lawyer.
Park then broke her silence and entered politics in April 1998 and won a parliamentary seat in 2000. She later became the party’s vice-chairwoman and eventually chairwoman with the nickname “Queen of Elections,” showing successful leadership.
Moon came to the fore upon the launch of the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2003. Moon entered Cheong Wa Dae as his old friend’s chief secretary on civil affairs. Minus a brief leave of absence due to health reasons, Moon remained at Roh’s side, eventually becoming his chief of staff.
It was during this time that Park and Moon established their clout at the opposite spectrums, with Park leading the main opposition party, and Moon assisting the ruling camp.
At the end of the Roh government, Moon retreated from the public eye, until the death of Roh on May 23, 2009. Moon began to be recognized as the political guardian of the pro-Roh group by heading the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, and eventually won his first parliamentary seat in Busan in this year’s general elections.
Park made her much-anticipated second presidential bid on July 10. Moon, after repeated recommendation from his aides and supporters, announced his bid on June 17.
Pledges
Park and Moon show conspicuous differences in positions on North Korea, economic democratization and welfare.
While both present a softer approach to Pyongyang compared to the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration, Park is more determined in getting North Korea’s apology for the 2010 deadly attacks on Cheonan Ship and Yeonpyeongdo.
Both are for resuming the Mount Geumgang tours, suspended since 2008 when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier. Park, however, demands an apology for the incident first.
Both tout wider economic cooperation to ease the tension on the Korean peninsula, with Park vowing to set up liaison offices in Seoul and Pyeongyang and Moon promising to establish a five-year plan.
Both agree on the need for inter-Korean summit talks, but Moon is more enthusiastic, pledging to hold the meeting in his first year in office if elected.
Park’s campaign, meanwhile, is stepping up their offensives against Moon by questioning his position on the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto demarcation with the North in the West Sea, and the North’s attack of the Cheonan ship.
The differences between the two candidates are more vivid in their approaches to economic democratization.
Park’s policies are more focused on maintaining the existing system but reinforcing the penalties against conglomerates’ irregularities. Moon’s ideas are more concentrated on overhauling the system to curb chaebol’s abuse of power.
Park proposes to only ban new cross-shareholding, while Moon vows to resolve existing cross-shareholding after a 3-year grace period as well, and to impose fines to compel the execution in non-compliance cases.
Park is also adamantly against Moon’s plan to reintroduce the equity investment ceiling system.
Moon also plans to refer all legal cases pertaining to top shareholders of a conglomerate to a jury that would likely entail stronger sentences, which Park opposes.
In terms of political reform, both vow to reduce the power of the president and the central party by enhancing the role of the prime minister, introducing open primaries and minimizing party’s nomination rights.
But while Moon suggests adjusting the number of parliamentary seats by increasing by 100 the number of proportional members, Park has remained silent on the issue.
The two also differ on reforming the prosecution, with Moon vowing to abolish the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, which Park disagrees with.
The two are also at odds over how to cut college tuition, one of the biggest social problems of the education-obsessed country.
Park proposes providing subsidies according to students’ family income, while Moon pledges to cut the tuition in half for all students at public colleges in the first year and at private schools by the second year through state subsidies.
Other differences include the candidates’ position toward the Jeju Naval Base and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, both of which Moon is more hesitant to follow through on with the current schedule.
By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)
An avoidable fact is their starkly contrasting backgrounds: Park of the Saenuri Party is the first daughter of a former dictator and Moon of the Democratic United Party a former student activist who fought against his iron-fisted rule.
With the election having conveniently become a two-way contest of conservative versus progressive, observers say the disparities between the two are expected to grow in the remaining three weeks.
They, however, cautioned against excessive negative campaigning, citing how swing voters were already fed up with established politics’ two-way rivalry.
“The crucial 10 percent of voters are those that have once supported former independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo on the platform of new politics but have not expressed any preference upon Ahn’s withdrawal. Rather than the two parties engaging in ideological negative attacks, differentiating themselves more in policy will help the race in what little time that remains,” said politics professor Yun Seong-yi of Kyung Hee University.
Backgrounds
Park and Moon are a year apart, with Park being born on Feb. 2, 1952, and Moon on Jan. 24, 1953.
Park, the first child of three, was born into the family of late President Park Chung-hee and first lady Yook Young-soo, at Samdeok-dong in Daegu. Moon, also the first born in his family, was born in Geojae of South Gyeongsang Province. His late father Moon Yong-hyeong was a refugee from North Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953).
By the time Park was graduated from elementary school, her father was president of South Korea, with the family moving into Cheong Wa Dae, where they stayed for 18 years.
 |
| A supporter presents a photograph of Park Geun-hye’s mother late Yuk Young-soo to the Saenuri Party presidential candidate in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday. (Yonhap News) |
 |
| Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in hugs children at a nursery in Daejeon on Wednesday. (Yonhap News) |
Moon, on the other hand, recalls living in poverty. Moon is said to have helped his mom deliver briquettes to make ends meet.
Both Park and Moon excelled in school, with Park graduating first in class from Sacred Heart Girls’ High School in Yongsan. Moon also entered Kyungnam High School, an elite school in Busan, without the benefit of any private tuition.
For college, Park chose to major in electronic engineering at Sogang University in 1970, while Moon enrolled into Kyung Hee University, College of Law, with a full scholarship in 1972.
Their lives began to pull further apart in the mid-1970s.
While Park returned to Korea from her studies in France upon the assassination of her mother in 1974, becoming an acting first lady, Moon was arrested in 1975 for leading a rally against Park Chung-hee’s Yushin Constitution. After serving time, he was forcibly conscripted to the Special Forces brigade.
Toward the end of the 1970s, upon Park Chung-hee’s assassination, Park left Cheong Wa Dae with her sister and brother and returned to their previous home in Shindang-dong. She has said she suffered seeing the former aides of her father become turncoats.
Moon, meanwhile, was released from the military and soon passed the bar examination in 1980. During his training, Moon married his wife Kim Jeong-suk.
From the early 1980s to late 1990s, Park remained out of public attention, tending to the scholarship foundation started by her parents.
Moon, after failing to become a judge due to his criminal record, returned to Busan, where he was introduced to then-lawyer Roh Moo-hyun, who later became his lifelong friend and political comrade. Moon and Roh made names for themselves as labor and human rights lawyers.
When Roh entered politics in 1988, Moon stayed on working as the human rights lawyer.
Park then broke her silence and entered politics in April 1998 and won a parliamentary seat in 2000. She later became the party’s vice-chairwoman and eventually chairwoman with the nickname “Queen of Elections,” showing successful leadership.
Moon came to the fore upon the launch of the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2003. Moon entered Cheong Wa Dae as his old friend’s chief secretary on civil affairs. Minus a brief leave of absence due to health reasons, Moon remained at Roh’s side, eventually becoming his chief of staff.
It was during this time that Park and Moon established their clout at the opposite spectrums, with Park leading the main opposition party, and Moon assisting the ruling camp.
At the end of the Roh government, Moon retreated from the public eye, until the death of Roh on May 23, 2009. Moon began to be recognized as the political guardian of the pro-Roh group by heading the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, and eventually won his first parliamentary seat in Busan in this year’s general elections.
Park made her much-anticipated second presidential bid on July 10. Moon, after repeated recommendation from his aides and supporters, announced his bid on June 17.
Pledges
Park and Moon show conspicuous differences in positions on North Korea, economic democratization and welfare.
While both present a softer approach to Pyongyang compared to the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration, Park is more determined in getting North Korea’s apology for the 2010 deadly attacks on Cheonan Ship and Yeonpyeongdo.
Both are for resuming the Mount Geumgang tours, suspended since 2008 when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier. Park, however, demands an apology for the incident first.
Both tout wider economic cooperation to ease the tension on the Korean peninsula, with Park vowing to set up liaison offices in Seoul and Pyeongyang and Moon promising to establish a five-year plan.
Both agree on the need for inter-Korean summit talks, but Moon is more enthusiastic, pledging to hold the meeting in his first year in office if elected.
Park’s campaign, meanwhile, is stepping up their offensives against Moon by questioning his position on the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto demarcation with the North in the West Sea, and the North’s attack of the Cheonan ship.
The differences between the two candidates are more vivid in their approaches to economic democratization.
Park’s policies are more focused on maintaining the existing system but reinforcing the penalties against conglomerates’ irregularities. Moon’s ideas are more concentrated on overhauling the system to curb chaebol’s abuse of power.
Park proposes to only ban new cross-shareholding, while Moon vows to resolve existing cross-shareholding after a 3-year grace period as well, and to impose fines to compel the execution in non-compliance cases.
Park is also adamantly against Moon’s plan to reintroduce the equity investment ceiling system.
Moon also plans to refer all legal cases pertaining to top shareholders of a conglomerate to a jury that would likely entail stronger sentences, which Park opposes.
In terms of political reform, both vow to reduce the power of the president and the central party by enhancing the role of the prime minister, introducing open primaries and minimizing party’s nomination rights.
But while Moon suggests adjusting the number of parliamentary seats by increasing by 100 the number of proportional members, Park has remained silent on the issue.
The two also differ on reforming the prosecution, with Moon vowing to abolish the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, which Park disagrees with.
The two are also at odds over how to cut college tuition, one of the biggest social problems of the education-obsessed country.
Park proposes providing subsidies according to students’ family income, while Moon pledges to cut the tuition in half for all students at public colleges in the first year and at private schools by the second year through state subsidies.
Other differences include the candidates’ position toward the Jeju Naval Base and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, both of which Moon is more hesitant to follow through on with the current schedule.
By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)
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