Foreign journalists find candidates poles apart in communication styles

By Jun Ji-hye

Daniel Tudor, Korea Correspondent for The Economist

Foreign correspondents based in Seoul said Thursday that there are notable differences in communication style between the presidential candidates.

“Park and Moon are very different in terms of their interpersonal skills and the way they handle the press and lead their press conferences,” Sebastien Falletti, 38, a correspondent for French newspaper Le Figaro, told The Korea Times.

Falletti was among the Seoul-based correspondents that attended the press conferences of the Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye and Democratic United Party’s (DUP) Moon Jae-in. These were held at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club (SFCC) last Thursday and this Tuesday, respectively.

He said “Rep. Park spoke English very well, but she was cautious when speaking and answering questions from reporters.”

The journalist said he felt that Park tried to make every word count during the news conference. “Park was very careful and tried to limit the number of questions from foreign correspondents,” he said.

Unlike her, Falletti, who has been based in Seoul for nearly three years, said her rival Rep. Moon was interactive and responsive.

“Moon spent more time (with the reporters there). He was eager to meet journalists and shook hands with all of them.”

The opinion of Simon Mundy, a Seoul correspondent for the Financial Times, was similar. After attending press conferences of two candidates, he compared Park’s attitude to Moon’s through his Twitter page.

“Just back from Moon Jae-in presser. He stayed for an hour of questions. Park took 5 (seemingly pre-approved) ones last week,” he tweeted on Monday.

Daniel Tudor, Korea Correspondent for The Economist who just released his first book, 'Korea: The Impossible Country,' agrees with the two journalists in terms of Moon’s openness.

“I interviewed Moon Jae-in one-on-one. We spoke for an hour and a half about absolutely anything I wanted to ask him. I think it is his nature to be an open and democratic person,” Tudor said.

He said it would not be fair of him to criticize Park’s communication style, because he has not yet met her, but Simon’s comment about Moon doesn't surprise him.

The journalists didn’t comment on independent Ahn Cheol-soo’s communication style because they have yet to meet the software millionaire-turned-candidate. Ahn is expected to meet foreign journalists next week.

Regarding Mundy’s tweet, Margaret Frances Key, the ruling party’s spokeswoman for the foreign press, said, “We took all questions. And Steve Herman, head of SFCC, randomly selected journalists for the Q&A session.”

Meanwhile, when asked about candidates’ election pledges, Falletti said he noticed no significant differences in their views on foreign policy and the economy because all their campaign pledges are almost identical.

“Their visions are very similar. They all talked about economic democratization and more dialogue with North Korea,” he said.

As for the atmosphere of the Korean presidential election, Tudor said this election is as exciting as he would hope an election to be, because there are big issues, big characters, and unexpected twists all the time.

However, he pointed out, “There is also a climate of attack by association - for instance, most of the criticism aimed at Park is about her father, while most criticism directed toward Moon is about late President Roh Moo-hyun.”

“It would be great if attacks came down to policy and capability instead. And everyone ought to remember that this is 2012, not 1972 or 2002,” he added