elect GNP Accuses Roh of Collapse of Middle Class
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) said Sunday that social polarization has deepened during the past four years after the Roh Moo-hyun administration took power.
The conservative party said that the widening income gap is a result of the incumbent government's mismanagement of the national economy.
The GNP's accusation came following the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) nominee Chung Dong-young's characterization of GNP nominee Lee Myung-bak as a candidate for the most wealthy 20 percent of the population.
The party released a booklet Sunday singling out major policy failures in six policy areas including the economy, real estate, education, diplomacy and security. The party explained that these failures were made since the incumbent government took power in 2003.
According to the report, the average income of the upper 10 percent of people is 10 times higher than that of the lower 10 percent.
It also said that during the past four years, the average income of the upper 10 percent of families has increased by 23 percent, while that of the lower 10 percent has increased by merely 3 percent.
``The decade saw a collapse of the middle-income class and the nation's debt rose dramatically to 1,240 trillion won. Koreans' suicide ratio topped among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries,'' it said.
The GNP booklet said that the past decade when the pro-government party took power was full of policy malfunction and poor management of the national economy.
The conservative party called it a lost decade.
Party nominee Lee made it clear that he would not be engaged in consuming debates over political ideology with his rival Chung.
Instead he will keep focusing on pragmatic moves, he said.
Lee is leading an in-house task force team designed for the production of tailored policies for low-income families.
The members of the special committee are small business owners, self-employed business people, start-up businessmen and women, and tax drivers.
GNP spokesman Park Heong-joon explained that the party decided to hire these experts working in the real business world for the committee to put their perspective into the policy outcomes.
``These experts will help the GNP produce more working class family-oriented policies. Their voice will be heard in policy decisions and bread-and-butter issues will come to the fore,'' he said.