ED Walk the talk

Lee Jae-myung waves after winning the liberal Democratic Party of Korea's nomination for the June 3 presidential election at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. Yonhap

Former Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leader Lee Jae-myung's win at the party primary is the least of all surprises. He swept through the successive primaries with consecutive wins, easily garnering the votes to become the party candidate for the June 3 snap presidential election. Support for Lee, a former mayor of Seongnam, governor of Gyeonggi Province and lawyer, reached nearly 90 percent in a weighted system comprising 50 percent party members' votes and 50 percent from public opinion polls. That is a figure unseen even when leaders like Kim Dae-jung ran for party nomination. Lee continues to be the favorite in the upcoming election, with no similarly competitive candidate emerging from the conservative People Power Party.

In his third presidential bid, Lee shows he easily grasps what the country wants and needs. In accepting the party nomination, Lee vowed to bring the nation together by surmounting the divisions acutely demonstrated by former President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 martial law declaration. Lee lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential race by a slim 0.73 percentage points.

"I will make sure to fulfill the responsibility of achieving national unity, which is a mission of politics and the No. 1 presidential task," Lee said in his acceptance speech.

In an apparent bid to reach out to a broad spectrum of voters, Lee stressed that "we do not have time to repeat the divisions and conflicts based on different pasts, ideologies and political camps," in a world driven by survival of the fittest and the encroachments of artificial intelligence on the economy and society.

He has been particularly attuned to the desires of citizens in the wake of the past several months of turmoil. Almost all polls place Lee in the lead, but with a little over a month left until the election, there is skepticism regarding the DPK policy focus on corporate regulations, as opposed to the need to deregulate, as well as worries about competing in the new global order being shaped by U.S. President Donald Trump. Also, how can a party that passed 13 impeachment votes against senior government officials in the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration achieve national unity?

Lee's idea of national unity seems to rest on differing groups and voters working toward a vital democracy where everybody's basic needs are addressed.

Lee has put forth policy pledges that resemble long-haul national plans. Among the growing array of conservative-leaning policy pledges are plans to invest 100 trillion won to nurture the artificial intelligence sector and the so-called "3.4.5 growth strategy." This strategy aims for a 3 percent potential growth rate, becoming one of the top four nations for exports and achieving a domestic income per capita of $50,000 by 2030. Lee correctly assessed that the semiconductor industry will be the strategic sector that determines leadership in a global economic race.

Yet, in reality, Lee has already walked back on some pro-corporate stances. For instance, after indicating that he supports relaxing the 52-hour weekly work limit for highly paid researchers in the semiconductor industry, he relented due to party opposition. The DPK's push for a revision of the Commercial Act to strengthen fiduciary responsibilities of directors to shareholders has the corporate sector wary. In addition, he faces several legal risks which he must clear.

At the moment, the 61-year-old Lee is taking steps to engage a broad spectrum of voters in the presidential race. He recruited Yoon Yeo-joon, a conservative political strategist, as his campaign chair. He has paid his respects to former President Park Chung-hee at the Seoul National Cemetery. He must persuade voters that what they see and hear is what they will get.