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.
Candidates disagree over TV debates
By Jun Ji-hye
The leading presidential candidates are at odds over plans to have them debate on television, the result of which is expected to have a significant impact on the outcome of the Dec 19 election.
The controversy first broke out after a debate planned to be aired on Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) was indefinitely postponed because of the failure of the ruling and opposition party to agree on terms.
The three major candidates – the Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye, Democratic United Party’s (DUP) Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo -- have yet to hold television debates. With only 20 days left before candidates have to officially register with the Electoral Commission, this development has surprised many observers because it is the first time for candidates not to hold the debates since they were introduced in 1997.
The Park camp has made clarification of a widely-rumored opposition merger between Moon and Ahn a condition for its participation in any debate. The Saenuri Party candidate insists that until the opposition is clear on that matter, then there is no point engaging in any debate.
Following Park’s decision, KBS, which initially planned to invite the three candidates to face each other, has changed the format to individual appearances between Nov. 13 and 15. Under this arrangement candidates will answer questions from a panel instead of debating their rivals.
Following this sudden twist, the opposition has described Park’s actions as a ploy to avoid the debate entirely.
“We accepted KBS’s TV debate request with written consent. But we were informed of it being indefinitely postponed because of Park’s withdrawal,” Rep. Kim Hyun-mee of the DUP said Sunday.
The opposition party claimed Park and Ahn have not responded to Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation’s (MBC) request, made last month, to ask candidates to attend a “
100
-Minute Debate” program.
The Ahn camp also blamed the daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee for the controversy over the TV debates. “As far as we know, KBS decided to cancel the debate because Park refused to participate,” said Jeong Yeon-soon, co-spokesman for Ahn.
However, the Saenuri Party has refuted the opposition’s claims. Park’s communications chief Lee Jung-hyun told the press that “the TV debate was postponed due to KBS’s internal circumstances. It was not canceled because of Park.
”
He added, “As our candidate is ready for the encounter but the opposition is not, we just proposed to KBS to give Park the last turn after listening to the opposition’s view.”
Jeong urged Park to speed up any plans she has for participating in the debate.