Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
ELECTION Most former corporate executives fail to win voter support
From left are Kong Young-woon, former president of Hyundai Motor and Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) candidate for Hwaseong-B constituency; Kang Chul-ho, former CEO of HD Hyundai Robotics and People Power Party (PPP) candidate for Yongin-D District; and Lee Jae-sung, former executive of NCSOFT and DPK candidate for Busan's Saha-B District, who failed to win a seat in the April 10 general election. Courtesy of DPK and PPP
By Baek Byung-yeul
Former business executives were fielded as candidates by political parties in the April 10 general elections, but most failed to win the support of voters, suggesting that candidates with a more voter-friendly image or high-profile candidates may have a better chance of winning, according to experts, Thursday.
Political parties nominated the business executives as candidates for the general elections in light of their extensive experience in various industrial sectors, helping the parties to formulate and promote their economic policies, the experts said.
Despite these strategic nominations, many of the high-profile business executive candidates, running either in one of the 254 electoral districts or the proportional representation system, failed to win the public's support.
Experts attribute the failure of these candidates, nominated by various parties to take the initiative on economic affairs, to the competitiveness of their rivals and the fact that the candidates' respective parties were generally not well-received in the regions.
"The ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) nominated these businesspeople with the goal of promoting their economic policies. However, many of them failed to get elected because they were matched up against politicians with higher profiles," said Cha Jae-kwon, a political professor at Pukyong National University.
The professor noted that the parties should have placed these political novices strategically to ensure a win if they were intended to lead the nation’s economic policies.
“The constituencies where these businesspeople-turned-politicians ran for election were generally favorable to rival parties. Simply having extensive industrial experience or having worked for major conglomerates does not necessarily mean voters will support them," he said.
In the election, the DPK and its satellite party secured 175 seats while the PPP and its satellite party garnered 108 seats. Samsung Electronics' ex-smartphone division CEO Koh Dong-jin was elected in Seoul's Gangnam-C and CJ CheilJedang's ex-CEO Choi Eun-seok won in Daegu's Dong-Gunwi District. Both are PPP members.
However, Hyundai Motor former President Kong Young-woon and former NCSOFT executive Lee Jae-sung, both DPK candidates, failed to win against their rivals, as did HD Hyundai Robotics ex-CEO Kang Chul-ho, a PPP candidate.
Experts, however, positively assessed the moves to nominate individuals with business experience as election candidates. This is because business executives-turned-politicians can bring their industry experience and insights into legislative discussions, understanding the economic situations of various regions better than experts in other sectors due to their high level of industry knowledge. Additionally, their political activities can help invigorate the economy in their respective regions.
"For example, in the case of Busan, there are relatively few people who were born and raised in the port city and have climbed to high positions in a company. Nominating them as lawmaker candidates could help revitalize the economy of Busan, which has fewer jobs and a less favorable economic situation compared to other regions," the professor said. "In this way, the policy of political parties nominating businesspeople to represent their districts is positively assessed and should be pursued further."