No big surprises!

Saenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, left, poses with Unified Progressive Party (UPP) nominee Lee Jung-hee, center, and Democratic United Party (DUP) contender Moon Jae-in ahead of their presidential debate Monday night. / Yonhap

Park, Moon trade jabs on policy-oriented TV debate

By Kim Tong-hyung

Opposition candidate Moon Jae-in launched a fight-back against conservative ruling party favorite Park Guen-hye in the second of three pre-election debates on Monday night.

The Democratic United Party (DUP) nominee, widely seen to have lost the first encounter, came out swinging over jobs, the economy and big businesses. Park, daughter of late dictator Park Chung-hee and representing Saenuri Party’s hopes to retain the country’s most powerful office, showed poise on the counter offensive, accusing her opponent of fanning anti-business sentiment and attempting to penalize the rich with tax hikes.

The two familiar adversaries, locked in a tightening race ahead of the Dec. 19 polls, were again joined by leftist candidate Lee Jung-hee, who continued where she left off throwing verbal haymaker after haymaker at Park throughout the two-hour exchange.

However, the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) nominee, whose support is measured at below 1 percent, found herself interrupted numerously by moderator Hwang Sang-moo, a KBS journalist, who was pressed to be assertive after the controversial responses that followed the first debate.

The three candidates will get their final chance to directly appeal to millions of voters on Dec. 16.

Moon looked sharper and more energetic than in the first debate, when he was heavily criticized for his listless performance, determined to maintain the bump in support he recently gained after former independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo declared his support.

In blasting his conservative rival over jobs, welfare and taxes, Moon attempted to link Park with incumbent President Lee Myung-bak, now popular as gout in face of subduing economic activity and eroding living standards.

``Candidate Park admitted that the Lee Myung-bak administration failed in improving working-class living standards, but that was clearly not the only thing it failed at. It failed at democracy, economic growth, inter-Korean relations, national security and balanced regional growth. Inflation rose and household debt soared,’’ he said.

``This has much to do with candidate Park and the Saenuri Party agreeing to the lavish spending on the four river restoration project, cutting taxes for the rich and railroading laws disadvantaging working-class citizens and annual budget plans year after year.’’

Park responded that the seeds of inequality and decaying family finances were sewn by the government of Lee’s predecessor, the late Roh Moo-hyun, and claimed that Moon would repeat the mistakes of his political mentor.

``We can’t continue this debate without talking about the Roh government. Real estate prices jumped most dramatically then, inequality accelerated at the fastest pace and college tuitions rose most sharply during this time. The economy eventually turned bad and that’s why voters picked a different government,’’ she said.

``Candidate Moon’s economic policies don’t look meaningfully different that the plans pushed under the Roh government. The world economy was very active at that time, but our country failed to be even average.’’

Park and Moon had been sparring ferociously over how far the country should push the efforts to reform chaebol, the mighty family-owned conglomerates that have been frequently been accused of monopolistic behavior and illegal wealth transfers among their owners. The two extended their finger jabbing over the issue as well as on the ways to create more jobs and inspire entrepreneurship.

``To ease the pain from the economic downturn and regain pace in growth, the key would be achieving the democratization of the economy and thus creating more jobs,’’ Moon said.

``Large firms have been raking in 10 to 20 trillion won (about $18.5 billion) in profit every year, but small- and medium-sized firms, self-employed businesses, workers and working-class families have been screaming in agony. We need to find a way to spread the fruits of growth more broadly.’’

Park countered that any new restriction on chaebol should be kept within the boundaries of fair trade principles.

``Reforming large businesses is very important. (I will) correct the wrongs chaebol commit, such as when the majority shareholders pursue their personal interests excessively or when the companies show anti-competitive behavior and encroach on the markets traditionally occupied by small merchants,’’ she said.

Park also attacked Moon for his plans to raise taxes to strengthen healthcare services, including limiting the annual expenses on insurance to 1 million won annually per person and widening coverage for low-income earners. Moon countered that Park was presenting her own set of bulked-up healthcare schemes without providing specific plans for financing them.

There had been little differentiation between Park and Moon at the start of the year over the chaebol issue as they both adopted the ``democratization of economy’’ slogan and speechified about preventing large corporations from killing parity in market competition.

But with worsening global conditions resulting in a sharp pullback in economic growth, Park has since backtracked from her previous promises and is now seen talking up the role of large companies in navigating the country out of the crisis.

Moon, in comparison, retained most of his plans on reforming chaebol, including stemming the practice of ``circular’’ equity investment, which allow the companies to weave a complex web of corporate ownership that accelerates the transfer of wealth and management power within their founding families.

He also vowed to strengthen cross-ownership restrictions on industrial and financial companies, which would affect business groups such as Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Lotte and Hanwha.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr