Endorsement speakers fight proxy war

Yoon Yeo-joon, Head of the DUP’s committee for citizen unity

By Jung Min-ho

Nine televised endorsement speeches for the Democratic United Party (DUP) presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in have drawn keen attention online, outshining those for his conservative rival Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party.

Since the first speaker Kim Sung-yeon, shoe factory worker in Busan, received more than 50,000 clicks on YouTube, nine speakers’ endorsement videos for the DUP candidate surpassed 800,000 hits in total, as of Sunday.

The fourth speaker psychiatrist Jeong Hye-shin’s “Society needs healing” speech had more than 100,000 views for the first time. Attention grew even further when Yoon Yeo-joon, the head of the DUP’s committee for citizen unity, spoke on Dec. 12.

Yoon recalled his first encounter with Moon and described him as “the only candidate who is capable of unifying the nation.” The former Saenuri Party lawmaker’s address instantly received favorable evaluations, drawing more than 450,000 hits on YouTube.

Given the impact of the speech on swing voters, the DUP decided to rerun it today as the Dec. 19 vote approaches.

On the other hand, the conservative party has received tepid reactions to theirs, lagging behind on YouTube clicks and failing to make their speakers Internet buzzwords unlike the liberal party.

The first speaker Park Bong-sun, the Seanury Party candidate’s friend from Sacred Heart Girls’ Middle School, was praised as her speech highlighted Park’s down-to-earth side. But the subsequent ones failed to attract significant hype.

College student Lee Jong-nam’s speech was viewed the most with 16,482 hits on YouTube but many of Park's endorsers are not even found online.

Galvanized by the decent online performance, the DUP appears to believe these speeches will help Moon to win.

“We think Yoon’s speech has profoundly influenced swing voters. It was like a critical blow to the Saenuri Party, and we believe this will boost Moon’s rising popularity even further,” DUP spokesman Woo Sang-ho said Friday.

To shift the momentum to Park’s side, Rep. Chung Mong-joon expressed his full support for the conservative candidate, saying that “Park is an honest politician who always sticks to her word” in Wednesday’s speech.

The two parties are now rolling up their sleeves to confirm their respective last speakers for Tuesday. Former independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo said he would deliver his speech for Moon but withdrew after some of his followers expressed their objections.