By Jun Ji-hye
Candidates for the June 4 local elections are desperately trying to outdo each other by making populist campaign pledges to woo voters.
Skeptics are increasingly expressing concern about how such overly “populist-oriented” pledges will be financed.
Chung Mong-joon, Seoul mayoral candidate for the ruling Saenuri Party, has been criticized by his opponents for pledging to restart a suspended-plan to construct an international business district in Yongsan.
Asked about how he intends to fund it during a televised debate on Monday, he talked of raising 45 trillion won ($44 billion) of private investment.
The plan for construction of the international district led by KORAIL and Lotte Tours Co. was suspended last year due to financial constraints and conflict among the various parties, thereby making it one of the worst failed business ventures in recent years.
Park Won-soon, former Seoul mayor and a member of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), claimed, “Reliance on private investment is a dangerous idea as it will severely damage public character.”
For the Gyeonggi gubernatorial poll, Kim Jin-pyo of the NPAD was also criticized for his plans for nursery teachers.
Kim, a former lawmaker of the major opposition party, pledged to change the status of nursery and kindergarten teachers to public servants to make them eligible to receive various government incentives. He said doing so will be an investment in children for the future.
The governing camp described Kim’s proposal as a typical unrealistic vote-catching policy.
“There are 70,000 nursery teachers in Gyeonggi Province and 230,000 nationwide. It will cost more than 10 trillion won for them to be recognized as public officials,” said Rep. Lee Wan-koo, floor leader of the ruling party, Sunday.
He argued that Kim failed to offer any feasible recommendation as to how to finance such an expensive policy.
Former Security and Public Administration Minister Yoo Jeong-bok, ruling party candidate for the Incheon mayoral election, was also criticized for his pledge to build a new KTX line departing from Incheon “to restore the self-respect of the city.”
Candidates running for education superintendents are also making similar pledges.
A significant number of candidates, including Lee Jae-jeong running for Gyeonggi educational office and Chung Chan-mo running in Ulsan, pledged to provide students with free school meals, a longstanding divisive policy.
They both offered unconvincing answers to the question of how they intend to fund such policies.
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