I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
50% of Koreans support halving college tuition
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Fifty percent of Koreans expressed support for an initiative to halve university tuition costs, according to an opinion poll Wednesday.
In a survey conducted by Hankook Research at the request of the Hankook Ilbo, an additional 36.5 percent of respondents concurred on the need to somewhat ease the financial burden of costly tuition.
The Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, marks its 57th anniversary today. The survey team called 9,745 adults aged 19 and older across the nation from June 3 to 4, of which 1,000 responded.
The poll results came as students have staged rallies in downtown Seoul over the last 10 days calling for lower tuition fees.
Student representatives of 42 universities agreed to boycott classes on Friday to show their unity and determination to push for the plan. Opposition parties and civic groups joined the move. They pledged to work together to make an all-out effort to pass a bill to lower tuition in the National Assembly no later than the end of June.
The Hankook Ilbo poll found that people in all age groups and all income levels supported the drive to slash college tuition by 50 percent from the current level.
About 6.3 percent of the respondents said college education should be free, while 3.8 percent replied that reducing tuition was not a time-pressing issue.
The survey also showed that President Lee Myung-bak’s approval rating fell to 36.1 percent. About 60 percent of respondents said Lee has not done a good job as president.
The poll found that more people in their 50s assessed Lee’s job performance negatively. Earlier, Lee enjoyed higher support from those in this age group.
About half or 52.6 percent of Koreans said they would vote for opposition party candidates in next year’s National Assembly election, just based on party preference. A total of 32.7 percent replied that they would vote for the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).
Also, about half or 49.5 percent of the respondents said they would vote for a unified opposition candidate in the December presidential election next year, just based on party preference. About 34 percent said that they would vote for a GNP candidate in the presidential election.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.