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| Huh Kyung-young, head of the National Revolutionary Party / Korea Times file |
By Kim Rahn
A familiar face has returned to the local political scene as the April 7 by-elections edge closer. He's none other than Huh Kyung-young, a quirky politician who rose to fame claiming to have levitational powers and an IQ of 430. He has become a laughing stock, but Huh barely flinches at such affronts. Rather, he seems to bask in the notoriety, even showing his "levitation" gesture on TV entertainment shows.
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As unique as Huh himself, his pledges have set him apart from other candidates. In a previous presidential race he promised that if elected president, he would reduce the number of lawmakers from 300 to 100. Many of his pledges also involve handing out cash to resolve social problems like income disparity, the low birthrate and rising housing prices.
This time, as a Seoul mayoral candidate, Huh has pledged to give 1.5 million won ($1,356) a month to all citizens aged 18 or older. To finance the budget, he plans forfeit his salary and intends to spend his own money to finance mayoral activities.
Hold on, there's more.
To boost Korea's chronically-low birthrate, Huh wants to shut down the Ministry of National Unification and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and replace them with a "marriage ministry," while handing out 200,000 won a month to single people as a "dating allowance" to encourage them to date. Those getting married can also receive 100 million won as a one-off marriage allowance and borrow 200 million won without interest to purchase a house. And couples who have a child will receive 50 million won as a one-off childbirth allowance, while the spouse who tends to household chores full time will get 1 million won every month as "homemaker allowance" until the child becomes 10 years old.
Earthly limitations don't seem to matter for the aspiring leader, including the fact that the mayor of the capital does not have the authority to shut down central government ministries or set up new ones.
People used to write off such promises as being outlandish and nonsensical. But Huh has continued pitching such cash payouts, focusing especially on boosting marriage and childbirth.
But fewer people seem to be laughing at him now.
In fact, many have begun to look at Huh's promises differently, as key policies presented by the central or local governments to help people weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic have been eerily similar to Huh's, although the amount of financial support is not as significant.
The central and local governments have provided some disaster-relief payouts since last year to help people overcome financial hardships brought on by the pandemic, while more support is in store this year. The government has also increased financial support for newlyweds or couples who have kids, in hopes of boosting Korea's birthrate, which is among the lowest in the world.
Some municipalities are promising eye-catching deals. Newlywed tenants living in apartments owned by the South Chungcheong provincial government will have their rent refunded if they have two children while living there. City officials in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province have promised to write off up to 100 million won in debt for couples who have three children.
These days, many comments voicing respect for Huh can be spotted on the internet, saying "Huh was showing the direction in which the nation needs to go," or "The government spent trillions of won to increase the birthrate for decades, but to no avail; it should have done what Huh said instead." Many of these comments may have been tongue-in-cheek, but do reflect feelings about the government's failure to boost the birthrate, resolve the chronic housing shortage and reduce widening income disparity.
Huh himself said in a media interview last year: "The number of people saying my policies were right is growing as time goes by. In the past, people called me crazy, but they need to reconsider." When Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung and South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo called for universal disaster relief payouts in March last year amid the pandemic, Huh also said: "Don't imitate me, you'd better make me the president."
The chances of Huh getting elected as a mayor, a lawmaker or president are close to zero. But his "unrealistic" promises will keep drawing public attention as they are starting to seem more viable and could possibly become a reality one day. So I'll wait for him to run in the 2022 presidential election, and the next local and presidential elections as well ― as his bid is very likely.
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