By Yi Whan-woo
Conservative ruling Saenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye and her main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) challenger Moon Jae-in will spar in the first of three televised presidential debates Tuesday at 8 p.m.
The two-hour session will also feature leftist candidate Lee Jung-hee of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and will be aired nationwide on MBC and KBS.
With apologies to Lee, the presidential race has already shaped up into a two-way battle between Park and Moon and their on-screen performances may prove to be as critical as the departure of popular independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, which has given swing voters a larger say than ever in a presidential election.
The debate this evening will cover domestic politics, foreign affairs, national security and North Korea-related issues.
The three candidates will participate in two more debates on Dec. 10 and 16 before the Dec. 19 vote. Moon has been demanding that Park agree to extra debates other than the three required by the Election Law, but Park has so far refused.
Park and Moon slimmed down their campaign schedules Monday ― Park more so following the death of a close associate killed in an expressway accident a day earlier ― to prepare for the debate.
Recent opinion polls show Park leading Moon by a narrow margin of two to three percent, which explains Moon's desperation to score more points against Park in front of a national audience. Lee has less than one percent support, but could play the role as spoiler for either Park or Moon depending on which subjects are discussed.
The four other minor presidential candidates will get their own time on television.
"A television debate in general influences the support of a candidate up by one to two percent," said Hong Hyung-sik, a director of the polling agency Hangil Research. "The debate Tuesday will be very decisive because Park and Moon are currently running neck-and-neck."
A survey by the National Election Commission (NEC) showed that 49.4 percent of 1,500 respondents thought television debates were "the most helpful source in understanding each candidate and his or her policies."
Park's election camp expects her to have an edge over her two rivals in terms of the issues to be covered.
"She has depth of knowledge on the topics because she talked about political reform as well as improvements of economic and political relations between the two Koreas and other nations a number of times," said Lee Jung-hyun, the chief publicist of Park's election campaign. "And she will focus solely on her policies rather than mudslinging against her opponents."
Moon's election campaign said the DUP contender built his experience on a range of issues as a former chief of staff under the late President Roh Moo-hyun.
Before it was even established, the first television debate was embroiled in controversy. The DUP questioned whether the ruling party pressured election officials to dumb-down the format of the first debate.
The format of the first debate, decided by the NEC panel, has each candidate taking turns asking and answering questions on different subjects across politics, society, the economy and foreign policy. However, the candidates are able to ask and answer only one question at a time and follow-up questions are forbidden. Interestingly, follow-up questions were permitted during a presidential debate between the remaining four minor candidates.
Kim Hyun-mee, Moon's chief strategist for presidential debates, claimed that the rules favored Park, who she observed is a ''stutterer'' and unable to talk without looking at notepads and teleprompters.
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| Park Geun-hye | Moon Jae-in |
The two-hour session will also feature leftist candidate Lee Jung-hee of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and will be aired nationwide on MBC and KBS.
With apologies to Lee, the presidential race has already shaped up into a two-way battle between Park and Moon and their on-screen performances may prove to be as critical as the departure of popular independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, which has given swing voters a larger say than ever in a presidential election.
The debate this evening will cover domestic politics, foreign affairs, national security and North Korea-related issues.
The three candidates will participate in two more debates on Dec. 10 and 16 before the Dec. 19 vote. Moon has been demanding that Park agree to extra debates other than the three required by the Election Law, but Park has so far refused.
Park and Moon slimmed down their campaign schedules Monday ― Park more so following the death of a close associate killed in an expressway accident a day earlier ― to prepare for the debate.
Recent opinion polls show Park leading Moon by a narrow margin of two to three percent, which explains Moon's desperation to score more points against Park in front of a national audience. Lee has less than one percent support, but could play the role as spoiler for either Park or Moon depending on which subjects are discussed.
The four other minor presidential candidates will get their own time on television.
"A television debate in general influences the support of a candidate up by one to two percent," said Hong Hyung-sik, a director of the polling agency Hangil Research. "The debate Tuesday will be very decisive because Park and Moon are currently running neck-and-neck."
A survey by the National Election Commission (NEC) showed that 49.4 percent of 1,500 respondents thought television debates were "the most helpful source in understanding each candidate and his or her policies."
Park's election camp expects her to have an edge over her two rivals in terms of the issues to be covered.
"She has depth of knowledge on the topics because she talked about political reform as well as improvements of economic and political relations between the two Koreas and other nations a number of times," said Lee Jung-hyun, the chief publicist of Park's election campaign. "And she will focus solely on her policies rather than mudslinging against her opponents."
Moon's election campaign said the DUP contender built his experience on a range of issues as a former chief of staff under the late President Roh Moo-hyun.
Before it was even established, the first television debate was embroiled in controversy. The DUP questioned whether the ruling party pressured election officials to dumb-down the format of the first debate.
The format of the first debate, decided by the NEC panel, has each candidate taking turns asking and answering questions on different subjects across politics, society, the economy and foreign policy. However, the candidates are able to ask and answer only one question at a time and follow-up questions are forbidden. Interestingly, follow-up questions were permitted during a presidential debate between the remaining four minor candidates.
Kim Hyun-mee, Moon's chief strategist for presidential debates, claimed that the rules favored Park, who she observed is a ''stutterer'' and unable to talk without looking at notepads and teleprompters.
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