Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Park calls for efforts to overcome economic crisis
By Jun Ji-hye
Park Geun-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, is touting her concerns about overcoming the current economic crisis in order to woo voters in the upcoming presidential election.
Park met people from small- and medium-sized businesses who have been suffering from long-term economic recession Monday. She said “I feel more serious about the economic crisis when I see small markets being troubled.”
The 60-year-old conservative is also planning to suggest solutions to family debt, an increasingly large burden on ordinary people.
“We will focus on suggesting measures to overcome the economic crisis and help vulnerable members of the society,” Saenuri Party insiders said Tuesday. “Park will pay attention to small- and medium-sized businesses, the local economy and youth unemployment,” they added.
From this week, the party will project an image of Park as a prepared president who is able to overcome fallout from the European economic crisis which is expected to hit the Korean economy sooner or later.
The move is designed to differentiate Park from Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo, currently engaged in thrashing out a deal over a proposed unified candidacy. Park’s campaigners stressed that the opposition’s preoccupation with the united candidacy issue and their attacks on events that occurred during the regime of late president Park Chung-hee, Park Geun-hye’s father, are completely unrelated to the majority of people’s lives. Moreover, issues concerning the economy have proven to be the most significant variables during previous presidential elections.
However, experts regard the move by Park’s camp with skepticism. Shin Yul, a noted political science professor at Myongji University claimed, “Park will first have to change her reputation as a person with a lack of communication skills built on past issues before she can come out suggesting various policies. Improving her image will only delay a positive assessment from the public.”
Meanwhile, Park met with people from information and communications technology sector in Sangam-dong, Seoul on Tuesday. She said “I will support the information and communications technology sector so that the establishment of new businesses can be energized.”