Rival parties' economic pledges pit growth against redistribution
By Choi Sung-jin
In the run-up to the parliamentary elections on April 13, the ruling and opposition parties have put forth their respective economic pledges to win voters’ hearts over such issues as growth, redistribution, jobs and welfare.
The recent division of the opposition camp turned domestic politics into a three-party rivalry, forcing each party to differentiate its economic policies from the other two as distinctly as possible. For instance, both the conservative ruling party and the two liberal opposition parties place the term “growth” at the center of their platforms but use the word with somewhat different meanings.
The ruling Saenuri Party is sticking to its growth-oriented economic policy with particular emphasis on creating more jobs. The opposition parties criticize this as just “headline figure politics.” Instead, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) calls for “inclusive growth” while the splinter People’s Party (PP) seeks “fair growth.” Both emphasize the need to attain growth by redistributing wealth currently concentrated within a few large businesses.
The center-right ruling party and center-left opposition parties show wider difference on specific issues.
In childcare, for example, the MPK is promising the central government will shoulder the entire cost of raising children under five, while the ruling Saenuri says regional education offices should be responsible for childcare.
The ruling and opposition camps can’t be more different from each other in creating jobs for the young unemployed. The ruling party is pushing to make the dismissal of underachieving employees easier to speed the restructuring of marginal companies and declining industries. The MPK is moving in the opposite direction, making it difficult for employers to sack workers under the pretext of managerial difficulties.
The oppositionists are also trying to win aged voters by promising to provide a basic pension of 200,000 won ($166) a month, one of President Park Geun-hye’s campaign pledges in 2012 that has been kept only partially.
Saenuri for its part is seeking to sway female voters by promising to allow housewives who quit their jobs because of marriage and childcare to receive national pensions if they pay premiums after returning to jobs.
The rival camps are also poles apart from each other in their ideas of raising financial resources needed to fund their pledges.
The opposition parties are seeking to raise the corporate tax rate, which has been lowered since former President Lee Myung-bak, another conservative, took office eight years ago. An MPK policymaker said the party can create 7 trillion won of revenues by restoring the corporate income tax rate alone.
The ruling party opposes tax hikes but has yet to announce its funding plan.