By Jun Ji-hye
The majority of the public say economic growth is the most important task that the next president has to tackle, rather than political reform or the expansion of welfare, according to a survey conducted by The Korea Times.
In a recent poll of 1,000 people, 41.3 percent said they want the next president to prioritize economic growth.
This was followed by 18.7 percent support for political reform and 17.5 percent who think there should be an expansion of welfare.
National security and reform of conglomerates received low support at 13.2 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.
The Korea Times conducted the survey jointly with Korea Research on the occasion of its 62nd anniversary which falls on Thursday.
The poll found that people in their 40s and 50s favor economic growth as the most significant task for the next president. Most of these are supporters of the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye and live in Daegu and across North Gyeongsang Province.
In contrast, supporters of the Democratic United Party’s (DUP) Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo highlight the need for political reform.
In line with the survey’s results, the three major presidential candidates have been focusing on economic issues.
The daughter of late President Park Chung-hee has recently called for greater efforts to cope with the current economic crisis. The move is designed to portray Park’s priorities as different to those of Moon and Ahn, currently engaged in exploring details of a proposed unified candidacy. At the same time, Park’s focus on the economy mirrors the wishes of her supporters.
Similarly, Moon and Ahn have been focusing on political reform in response to calls from their supporters.
In Moon’s camp, nine figures associated with the late President Roh Moo-hyun resigned in a bid to stem factionalism within the party in order to help Moon focus on political reform. Moon launched a committee to proceed with political overhaul last week.
Ahn, who has urged the DUP to carry out an internal renovation before proposing alliance, suggested policies such as cutting the number of parliamentary seats and reducing government subsidies for political parties.