Main opposition presidential candidate stresses fairness, common sense

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, speaks during the launching ceremony of the party's election committee in Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps

PPP launches election committee after internal disputes

By Kang Seung-woo

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), said, Monday, he will establish a nation where fairness becomes common sense, while stressing that fairness and freedom will be keywords for the government's economic policy if he is elected president.

Additionally, the former prosecutor general emphasized solidarity within the party in the race for Cheong Wa Dae, apparently mindful of a recent internal feud between him and the party leader.

The PPP finally launched its long-delayed election committee on the day and the launching ceremony was held one month after Yoon was elected, Nov. 5, to represent the conservative party in the presidential election, scheduled for March 9, 2022, against former Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

“I will create a nation where fairness becomes common sense. Everyone talks about fairness, but not just anybody can achieve fairness,” Yoon said during the ceremony.

“It cannot be achieved by flowery language, but a trajectory of how a person has lived so far. I will solidify the basis of the nation with 'Yoon Suk-yeol's fairness' starting from the bottom.”

His emphasis on making a fair country was a replay from the declaration for his presidential bid in June, when he vowed to rebuild justice and the rule of law, denouncing the Moon Jae-in administration for “corruption and incompetence.”

In terms of the rapidly changing economic situation, the 60-year-old said his government will create conditions for fair competition and allow the private sector to create an economy where creativity and imagination can be fully expressed.

“I will create a fair world where people are rewarded according to how much they work,” Yoon said.

In the lead-up to the ceremony, Yoon had to settle internal feuds in the party to bring back Kim Chong-in, the former head of the PPP's emergency committee, as the head of the party's election committee. Kim, a veteran election campaigner who helped President Moon and his predecessor Park Geun-hye win Cheong Wa Dae, was at odds with him over the appointment of other committee members.

Yoon also had conflicts with PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok, with Lee boycotting scheduled campaign events last week following controversies that he had been excluded from decision-making processes in Yoon's election camp. On Friday, Yoon addressed the feud with Lee, thereby starting campaigning together the following day.

In that respect, Yoon said, “In order to hand over a thriving Korea to future generations, we have to win this election and to this end we are in desperate need of unity.”

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, speaks during a meeting with small merchants at the party's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Meanwhile, Lee Jae-myung of the DPK urged the government to fully compensate those hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic as the nation implemented stricter social distancing measures starting Monday.

“The government has not done its job,” Lee said at a party campaign meeting, adding that the state support for vulnerable people such as small merchants, freelancers and marginal workers is too small.

“We need the government's utmost support that can make people think it is better than usual.”