Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Ex-ruling party chief vows to expand middle class
Lee Nak-yon, former chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and former prime minister, announces his bid to run in the presidential election next year. Screenshot from Lee Nak-yon's YouTube channel
By Nam Hyun-woo
Lee Nak-yon declares presidential bid
By Nam Hyun-woo
Lee Nak-yon, former chairman of the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and former prime minister, has pledged to address social inequality and restore the dwindling middle class if he wins in the presidential election next March.
Making an official declaration of his bid in a video message released Monday, Lee stressed that Koreans are suffering from inequality and unfairness and that he will focus on restoring fairness. He had registered earlier as one of nine contenders of the party's primary last week.
“The gap between the haves and have-nots has widened amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while the young generation is protesting how unfair our society is,” Lee said. “Reducing social inequality is an urgent societal matter.”
Lee presented his five election pledges, which are aimed at addressing social and economic inequality as well as at securing Korea's diplomatic leverage through enhancing its economic and cultural power.
In the speech, he said that only 57 percent of Koreans are now categorized as middle class, down from 60 percent 10 years ago, and that he plans to raise this number to 70 percent.
“When the middle class gets thinner, social inequality worsens. And that makes society vulnerable to crisis,” Lee said. “When the middle class expands, social inequality lessens and society will be more resilient to crisis.”
In order to do so, he said that the Constitution should be amended in a way that strengthens the “concept of public land ownership,” so as to prevent rich people from monopolizing unearned income by means of private property ownership. The concept of public land ownership means that land should be understood as a public good, and therefore, as a way to limit or suspend private property rights in favor of public purposes.
“The country should be able to share a greater portion of the benefits gained from its land, as well as reduce social inequality,” Lee said. “I will gradually aim for all Koreans to enjoy present middle-class living standards by 2030.”
Policies to stabilize the country's housing prices are expected to top the agenda in the upcoming presidential election. In the April 7 by-elections to pick the Seoul and Busan mayors, the ruling DPK suffered crushing defeats, which were largely interpreted as public dissatisfaction with the real estate policies of the Moon Jae-in administration and DPK.
Lee also pledged that he will spare no efforts in making Korea “a leading nation in terms of soft power,” because the economy and culture outweigh military power and territory in contemporary diplomacy.
He said that peace on the Korean Peninsula should be accomplished “systematically,” and that North Korea's nuclear issue can be addressed with “comprehensive agreements and phased implementation.”
With Lee's announcement, all of the DPK's presidential hopefuls have now made their presidential bids official. Eyes are now on who will drop out of the race and who will be endorsed as the final candidate of the ruling party.
Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, right, and Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea pose at National Assembly, Seoul, Monday, after Lee announced that he will endorse Chung as a presidential candidate and that he would drop out of the party's primary race. Yonhap
On Monday, Rep. Lee Kwang-jae announced that he would quit the race and instead endorse former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun as a presidential candidate, marking the first case of the “unification of candidacies” among DPK presidential hopefuls.
“Based on Lee's decision, I will run in the primary,” Chung said during a press conference at the National Assembly. “I will give my full support to achieving Lee's dream for the Korean economy, and we will work together to realize those hopes.”
The DPK will hold a preliminary race between its eight candidates on Sunday in order to pick six finalists. The final candidate will be selected in September.