Moon Jae-in seeks grassroots democracy

Moon Jae-in, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, makes a thums-up gesture while delivering a campaign speech in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. / Yonhap

By Kim Hyo-jin

Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Moon Jae-in has unveiled 10 campaign pledges based on 125,000 ideas and policy suggestions his team gathered through social media in recent weeks.

Moon said he will implement them promptly if elected.

“Many ideas enlightened me,” he said during a press conference Friday. “I was reminded again the people are the smartest and answers always lie in the people. We narrowed them down to 10 based on popular suggestions about children, education, women, housing and the environment. I will carry them out swiftly if elected.”

The pledges include government support for hospitalized children aged 15 and under and free treatment for premature babies until they are six.

For parents of premature babies, he said the government would provide 80 percent of their monthly salaries during their one-year childcare leave.

To better respond to child abuse, Moon promised to set up a policy control tower and a network involving educational offices, schools, police and nurseries. More money would be earmarked for child protection.

Moon also backed the people’s proposal for school uniforms. He plans to adopt standardized yet multiple designs for middle and high school uniforms and have them mass produced to reduce the cost burden on families.

Moon presented countermeasures to sexual abuse, which ranked high among the most suggestions from people according to his camp. He would introduce a licensing system for those who buy and possess hidden cameras.

And he promised to punish perpetrators who videotape, distribute and threaten others with revenge porn through strict application of the Sexual Crime Act.

The candidate also proposed special policies for young people. Mindful of a generation struggling with low employment and disenchanted with unfair social systems, Moon pledged to abolish the obligation of providing graduation certificates and including educational background on CVs when applying for jobs with government and public organizations.

Public dormitories would be built and provided free to graduates or those who are looking for jobs, he said.

Moon responded to the public calls for victims of the Sewol ferry sinking. He said he would push for a bill recognizing that Kim Cho-won and Lee Ji-hye, two part-time teachers at Danwon High School who perished in the sinking, died while on duty.

The government has refused to do so because they were not full-time teachers categorized as public servants.

Reflecting public concerns about worsening air and water quality, Moon said he would set the standard to manage air quality for underground shopping facilities and launch a special committee to investigate the Four Major Rivers Project spearheaded by conservative ex-President Lee Myung-bak.

Moon’s campaign started collecting policy suggestions from people on March 21 by disclosing the candidate’s mobile phone number, a first in the country’s election history.

People responded enthusiastically, sending about 125,000 messages by this Friday. On average, two messages were sent a minute, said Jun Byung-hun, head of the campaign’s election strategy team.

“We began the project with the aim of seeking policies closely connected to the people’s daily lives,” Jun said. “To our surprise, we were flooded with suggestions. Mobile phone messages, this new platform for communication, worked well in reaching out to the people.”