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| The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's South Chungcheong gubernatorial election candidate Yang Seung-jo, left, and the ruling People Power Party's candidate Kim Tae-heum register their candidacy at the National Election Commission's South Chungcheong Chapter, May 12. Courtesy of election camps for Yang and Kim |
Current governor appeals to public after recovering from COVID-19
By Ko Dong-hwan
The ruling People Power Party's (PPP) South Chungcheong Provincial Governor candidate Kim Tae-heum has pledged to relocate Korea Military Academy in Seoul to Nonsan in the province, envisioning it will see more people move to the local city in the country's central region and develop it in the process.
Kim, who has been neck-and-neck in public opinion ratings for the gubernatorial election with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) Yang Seung-jo, was canvassing at a traditional street market in the city on May 23 when he made the pledge.
"President Yoon Suk-yeol had promised to relocate it to Nonsan (when he was a presidential candidate before being elected in March), and so did the presidential transition committee," Kim told a crowd gathered at the market, with only days remaining until June 1 local elections. He said the plan to move the academy in Nowon District out of the city first surfaced within the central government as one of the measures to resolve the apartment shortage issue in Seoul's real estate market after the country's real estate policies, despite being revised 27 times during the previous Moon Jae-in administration, kept failing to control rising apartment prices.
Kim admitted that people employed at the academy and their family members feel reluctant to move out of Seoul to a local region mainly because they worry the educational environment they or their children will experience outside the capital will lack compared to that in Seoul. But it is an obstacle he means to break.
"I will make it happen if I become the governor, no matter how fierce the bid's repercussion might get," Kim said. "Lee Jae-myung (the former presidential candidate from the DPK who lost to Yoon by a slim margin), when he was campaigning for his presidency bid, said he will relocate the academy to Andong in North Gyeongsang Province, an out-of-blue idea which I think is absurd. But what did Yang do about it? He just stayed mum and did nothing (despite his current title as the South Chungcheong governor)."
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| Yang Seung-jo, the South Chungcheong provincial governor, talks during a press conference at the government's headquarters in Hongseong County, May 13. Courtesy of South Chungcheong Provincial Government |
Kim strongly appealed to the public that Yoon's victory in the presidential election was people's judgment against the Moon administration and the DPK that supported Moon. He added the DPK, however, still dominates the National Assembly with majority of the seats (167 out of 300). He said it is now time to judge the DPK by voting for him and PPP candidates in other constituencies nationwide.
"The son of Nonsan has come back as the country's president," said Kim during Monday's speech, noting Yoon's connection to the city where his father, an emeritus professor at Yonsei University, is known to have lived as a child. "With our new president, it is now a perfect opportunity for South Chungcheong to push forward our provincial businesses that have been delayed."
Yang, meanwhile, finished a weeklong quarantine at home in Cheonan, Tuesday, after getting infected with COVID-19. The current South Chungcheong governor has been appealing to the public that the region under his government has been topping other local governments in the country in terms of pledge execution, economy and welfare.
"Those seven days locked under quarantine were painful to me, as I have never taken off my shoes while working for the public, even during the 22 days I fasted in 2010 to demand Sejong (situated between South and North Chungcheong) be designated a special self-governing metropolitan status," Yang said at his election camp office in Cheonan soon after midnight when the quarantine was over. He said he cried during the seven days thinking about his wife and family members who canvassed for him during the period.
"We need to get serious and know that if I collapse, the DPK's base in the country's central region collapses as well," Yang told his camp supporters Tuesday. Yang went to Geumsan County, the southernmost constituency in South Chungcheong, as well as six other cities and counties in a hectic Tuesday campaign schedule.
Kim, on Monday, met three other PPP candidates running for seats in Chungcheong ― North Chungcheong, Daejeon and Sejong ― and agreed to form a "mega city" across the borders with a population of 7 million throughout the regions by first expanding infrastructure including laying new railways and highways, underground water and sewer pipelines, an emergency disaster control tower and dams for drinking water.
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| Kim Tae-heum, right, receives a letter of appointment from People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok, left, which designates Kim as the party's candidate for the South Chungcheong gubernatorial election, at the National Assembly on May 16. Korea Times |
"After that, we will work on how to finance and legislate laws under the new Chungcheong mega city. It's how to shape a mega city after all," said Kim during a press conference at Sejong where he met his fellow party candidates.
Yang, on the other hand, proposed specifying the province into three regions and introducing new industries in each region ― smart, technological industries in the northern region, international maritime tourism and national infrastructures in the west coast region, and innovative growth industries in the Keum River region.
In addition to the province-wide plan, Yang made pledges for all 15 cities and counties in South Chungcheong, such as subsidizing citizenry groups for seniors, upgrading public service for people with serious disabilities, introducing a public support center for female farmers, and sending selected local talent to study abroad.
Besides the two candidates who registered their candidacy at the National Election Commission on May 12, their wives also left impressions among members of the public. Nam Yoon-ja, married to Yang, went to Seosan in South Chungcheong on May 20 and appealed to the public to vote for Yang. "I'm not fond of talking in public but I stood out of pressing need for my husband. He, having governed the province for the past four years, pushed himself so hard it was as if he was married to the province. I think South Chungcheong needs a hard-working governor once more."
Lee Mi-sook, wife of Kim, on May 21 went to Cheonan, the largest city in South Chungcheong, and canvassed for her husband at street markets and a soccer stadium, the home of a soccer club owned by the Cheonan city government.
According to Realmeter's public opinion survey on the two front runners of South Chungcheong gubernatorial election conducted on May 20-21, 52 percent of respondents supported Kim while 39 percent supported Yang. Kim was ahead of Yang in the figures in all constituencies except Asan and Dangjin. Even voters in Cheonan, Yang's hometown, were more inclined to Kim with 56 percent, while 36 percent supported Yang.
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