'Parties need to sincerely take care of youth'

Son Su-jo, a 29-year-old member of the ruling Saenuri Party, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the Lexington Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, last month. / Korea Times photo by Jun Ji-hye

By Jun Ji-hye

• Published Mar 10, 2014 6:30 PM KST
• Updated Mar 10, 2014 6:30 PM KST

By Jun Ji-hye

Political parties have often used the young adult issues, including the high jobless rates for college graduates, as a ploy to win the hearts and minds of voters.

They usually promise to actively resolve the problems facing young people by making the most of their “youth” committees. They step up this effort to woo voters, especially ahead of elections.

Members of both the ruling and opposition parties have already begun to take advantage of these issues ahead of the upcoming June 4 local polls to elect governors, mayors and local council members.

Son Su-jo, a 29-year-old politician of the ruling Saenuri Party, criticized the political parties for resorting to the ploy.

She said if parties look to younger people only when elections are looming, they hold little promise for the latter’s future.

Son noted that parties should set up a proper system to nurture young politicians, saying “politics definitely has to be younger.”

“Parties should put a functioning political education system in place, so that young aspiring politicians can be raised and nurtured by the parties,” said Son in an interview. “In a so-called political academy, I hope young politicians or politician aspirants can learn about such subjects as the Election Campaign Fund Law.”

Her reasoning for the proposal was “because I have had a really hard time entering politics as I had to do and learn everything by myself.”

Son came to sudden prominence in the 2012 general elections in which she competed against 59-year-old Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in Busan’s Sasang district.

With a nickname of “Park Geun-hye’s kid,” Son drew enormous public attention during the elections, pulling support from young voters for the ruling Saenuri Party, whose power base had been mostly among those over 50. At the time, President Park was chairwoman of the party's election camp.

At the election, the then 27-year-old put up a good fight against Moon, a political bigwig who served as presidential chief of staff for the late President Roh Moo-hyun. She garnered 44.3 percent to Moon’s 54.7 percent.

However, Son said, “I was not a Cinderella. My debut was not suddenly made.”

Upon graduating from the Ewha Womans University, she sent hundreds of emails to the then chairman of the party’s nomination committee. At the time, she only had a wild hope of being nominated as a ruling party candidate in the general elections.

“I didn’t have any human networks to access the party leadership. So I found the chairman’s email address through an Internet search,” said Son. “After my continuous endeavors, I was selected as a back-up candidate for the governing party. I didn’t stop. I sent written reports of my daily tasks to the nomination committee chairman every day.”

After eventually being selected as a final candidate, everything changed, she said.

“My every move was delivered to the public through the media. Sometimes, untrue information was reported, which resulted in many people posting hateful comments against me. That really hurt me,” she said.

When the people fiercely criticized her for not fulfilling her promise to complete the race spending only 30 million won ($28,000), she was hurt the most, she said.

“It was true that I made the promise to the public as I was quite skeptical about why politicians spend such enormous amounts of money in elections. But after I actually began campaigning, I realized that 30 million won was not enough,” said Son. “To complete the race with that money, I even had to make my campaign posters in black and white.”

She held a press conference to tell the public that her campaign expenses would exceed that money.

“There were many objections from my aides about the need for the press conference, but I just wanted to tell the public the truth,” she said. “The next day, however, Internet pages were full of critical comments about me.”

The fact that she failed to deliver her sincerity to the public made her sad, she said.

Son told this reporter: “Now, I want to tell you the truth. I spent a total of 33 million won during that election, and this money was the lowest amount compared to that of other politicians.”

The 29-year-old added that it was really hard for her to break through the “glass ceiling” for young politicians.

“I hope a second Son Su-jo can enter politics through red carpet treatment,” she said.

Why the Saenuri Party?

When asked about the reason for choosing the conservative ruling party, she said, “I considered two aspects ― how the party sees North Korean affairs and how it manages welfare policies.”

“I was not 100 percent satisfied with the ruling party. But when I saw the Unified Progressive Party dealing with issues related to the North such as the sinking of the warship Cheonan in a torpedo attack, I thought that’s not what I want to do,” she said.

“I also support selective welfare mostly chosen by the conservative side, rather than universal benefits that the liberal camp pushes for,” she added.

She wants, however, the governing party to become more flexible, so that it can freely communicate with young people.

“The party’s atmosphere is still too formal. Members sometimes have difficulty raising complaints about party affairs. This should be improved,” said Son.

The young politician said she believes that an intersection for the rival camps definitely exists, saying she frequently meets opposition party members.

“I am personally closed to the DP’s Jung Eun-hye. We often have discussions about various issues that we have sympathy for,” she said.

Jung, 30, served as a vice-spokeswoman for the largest opposition party.

“I have also met liberal politicians such as former DP lawmaker Chung Bong-joo; lawyer Geum Tae-sub, a spokesman for independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo; and Chun Ho-sun, chairman of the minor opposition Justice Party. They are all good people to talk to,” said Son.

As a young conservative politician, she said coming up with rational arguments was the most important task to persuade the public as well as old politicians who have stereotypical views of young people.

“Being persuasive is a key talent that young politicians need. We are living in the 21st century. Saying ‘I just don’t like liberal forces,’ or ‘I just don’t like people from Jeolla Provinces’ is inappropriate in this era,” she said.

Son added, “I believe if we keep making and calling for 100 suggestions to resolve tricky problems facing young people, at least 10 of those could be selected to push forward with.”

Currently serving as a head of the Saenuri Party’s branch in Busan’s Sasang district, Son is working for victory in the June 4 local elections.

For her part, she plans to take up the challenge of securing a parliamentary seat representing the area in the 2016 general elections.

“I want to work for the people living in the city where I was born and raised,” she said.

Son also is chairwoman of a youth committee directly supervised by the President.

“I often produce reports about young people’s issues and submit them to Cheong Wa Dae,” she said. “Then, President Park sometimes gets back to me with feedback.”