Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Survey shows Moon closing in on Park
By Jung Min-ho
The race between the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party (DUP) is becoming a dead heat according to a survey released Wednesday that shows the gap is closing.
The survey, conducted by JTBC and Realmeter from Monday to Tuesday, revealed that 47.8 percent of respondents said they would vote for Park, while support for Moon remained at 45.6 percent.
The gap between the two narrowed from 5.1 percent to 2.2 percent, compared to Tuesday’s survey, and the possibility of turning the election is now within the margin of error.
With 3.8 percent participants who said “undecided,” the Unified Progressive Party contender Lee Jung-hee received 1.6 percent support, while independent candidate Kang Ji-won had 1.1 percent.
The DUP seems galvanized about Moon’s slow but steady rising popularity since his former rival Ahn Cheol-soo announced his full support for Moon on Dec. 6.
“Considering polls released today, Moon is obviously on an upward trajectory and the result of the election is now becoming unpredictable,” DUP spokesman Woo Sang-ho said.
“We believe that Moon’s support rate can surpass that of Park’s over the weekend. The people’s desire for a new administration and political reform is stronger than ever before and the atmosphere is changing rapidly.”
Under the election law, surveys conducted after Wednesday cannot be released to the public. So, the two camps are making a final burst to end their respective campaigns with the optimal poll numbers.
The last two elections in 2002 and 2007 showed that the leader of the final tally ended up winning the ticket to Cheong Wa Dae. So, the final poll results are drawing keen attention from both camps.
With the unprecedentedly neck-and-neck race, however, the possibility of turning the election remains highly possible. Whether the UPP candidate drops her candidacy and the third televised debated on Sunday are adding uncertainties to the outcome remains to be seen.