By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Presidential candidate Chung Dong-young of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) Friday pledged that he would overhaul the country's education system.
His campaign pledges concerning education include English classes taught by native speakers for all students and decreasing student numbers in the classroom.
``I'll focus on seizing the public enemy, soaring private tutoring fees,'' Chung said in a press conference in his home turf Gwangju. ``If I elected, I'll declare the year 2008 as the year of education reforms. I'll make South Korea an education heaven where all the people can get quality education.''
An anchorman-turned-politician, Chung also stressed the importance of achieving balanced national development, referring to plans to specialize regional industries and create a number of industry clusters across the country.
``Gwangju citizens are like my family and mother. Gwangju people have made me make a decision every time I face difficulties,'' Chung said in a press conference. ``After Gwangju selected me in the primary, Busan also picked me up. Please give me continued support for me to become the president.''
In the meantime, Chung's presidential election camp is to be officially inaugurated Sunday.
The election camp is to be co-led by UNDP chairman Oh Choong-il, former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu, former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and Kim Geun-tae, former chairman of the ruling Uri Party, the predecessor of the UNDP.
The camp's name is UCC, referring to ``You Created Campaign.''
Chung's public approval rating has recently reached 20 percent for the first time since his nomination.
In a telephone survey last weekend on 1,000 adults by Hankook Research at the request of YTN, Chung won 20.4 percent. Lee received 54.6 percent.
Compared to an October survey, Lee's approval rating rose by 5.4 percentage points while Chung's jumped by 9.9 percentage points.
Moon Kook-hyun, a presidential contender and former chief executive of Yuhan Kimberly, ranked third with 8.4 percent, a 4.1 percentage points rise from the previous poll.