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.
'PK' region emerges as key battlefield
By Jun Ji-hye
Now that a two-way race between Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in is underway, Busan and South Gyeongsang Province have emerged as the key battlegrounds in the Dec. 19 election.
A recent poll conducted by research firm Mbrain showed that Park, the Saenuri Party candidate, maintained her approval support in the region at 50.5 percent. But this is still insufficient because experts say she must secure support of at least 60 percent to win the presidency.
The poll found that support for Moon of the Democratic United Party (DUP), which used to be nearly 40 percent in a hypothetical two-way race with Park, had fallen to 33 percent.
Elections watchers say this is because Moon has become the opposition’s single candidate after the withdrawal of independent contender Ahn Cheol-soo, and people focused on the DUP itself rather than the candidate who is from Busan.
However, considering that the late President Roh Moo-hyun received 29.4 percent of the votes in the region a decade ago, the largest support that the opposition has so far garnered, Moon is considered to be a formidable candidate.
Also, Ahn’s next moves are going to be a significant factor that will influence the voting intentions of 15 percent of swing voters who, until Friday, were mostly supporters of Ahn.
In order to secure a victory in December, the Saenuri Party is trying not to allow Moon’s ratings to go above 35 percent, while the DUP set up its goal to get at least 40 percent support in the region.
Meanwhile, eyes are also looking to the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee to see if she can garner over 10 percent support in the Honam region, or the Jeolla Provinces, the traditional power base of the liberal camp.
Even President Lee Myung-bak, who won a landslide in the 17
th
presidential election, garnered only 8.9 percent of votes in this region.
Park, who set a goal of earning 20 percent support there, currently has 12.7 percent to Moon’s 73.7 percent.
Busan and South Gyeongsang Province
have typically been home turf for the ruling Saenuri Party, but recently there has been signs of splintering among those on the right.
Division within its support base began to emerge after a 2010 local election when left-wing independent Kim Doo-kwan was elected as Governor of the province. Then, in the April 11 general election, the DUP and the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) earned 40 percent of the vote thanks to members of the electorate in their 20s and 40s who tend to oppose the ruling party.
Regarding the upcoming December election, the fact that Busan is the constituency of the Moon as well as the hometown of Ahn Cheol-soo has been regarded as a setback for Park.
Aware of this, the conservative party’s standard bearer has focused in particular on wooing voters there by conducting several visits and announcing pledges that suit their taste. It included a vow to
make Busan the hub of shipping finance in Northeast Asia.