Moon clinches opposition's presidential ticket
Rep. Moon Jae-in, a human rights lawyer-turned-politician, clinched the presidential nomination of the main opposition Democratic United Party on Sunday after winning all of the party's regional primaries.
Moon won a combined total of 347,183 votes, or 56.5 percent, in the party's 13 regional primaries, with former party chief Sohn Hak-kyu coming in a distant second with 136,202 votes or 22.2 percent, the party said.
At least 50 percent of the votes were needed for him to avoid a run-off vote.
Moon, 59, a former human rights lawyer who served as chief of staff to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, has led the three other contenders with big margins without losing any of the 13 primaries that began last month on the southern island of Jeju.
Moon said in his acceptance speech that if elected as president, he will push for an inter-Korean summit in his first year in office to defuse tensions with North Korea.
Regarding foreign policy, Moon vowed to pursue balanced diplomacy with state neighbors while maintaining a firm alliance with the United States.
On the domestic front, the candidate pledged to open a new era of change through leadership of communication and harmony, and of empathy and solidarity.
"The lack of communication and self-righteousness is a legacy of the past. We cannot open a new era unless the legacy of the authoritarian era is removed," Moon said.
He cited job creation, a welfare state, economic democratization, new politics and peace and co-existence as five key words for his presidential campaign.
The ruling Saenuri Party has already picked former party chief Park Geun-hye as its standard-bearer.
Though Moon enjoys broad support from within the party, nationwide opinion polls have put him behind not only Park, but also Ahn Cheol-soo, a software entrepreneur-turned-professor who has been mulling a run for the Dec. 19 vote as an opposition candidate.
Ahn is said to be preparing to declare his bid this week after months of contemplation.
Election experts expect Moon and Ahn to ultimately unify their candidacies because neither can beat the ruling party's Park if both of them run and split the opposition vote.
Ahn, 50, demonstrated powerful influence over voters during October's Seoul mayoral by-election, when the then opposition candidate, Park Won-soon, won the election due in large part to Ahn's public backing of him.
Ahn's approval ratings as a presidential candidate have stood as one of the highest.
A former medical doctor who gained fame in the 1990s after establishing the anti-virus software firm AhnLab, Ahn is widely popular, especially among young Koreans, due largely to his clean and upright image. He is now dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University. (Yonhap)