2024-04-10 05:03:07
In the 4/10 general election, the Democratic Party of Korea raised the ‘government judgment theory’ until the very end of the election, and the People Power Party responded with the ‘Lee-Jo (Lee Jae-myeong, Democratic Party of Korea representative, Cho Kuk, representative of the Fatherland Innovation Party) judgment theory’, leading to a battle to resolve the people’s livelihood issue. It was assessed that competition between policies and pledges was missing. Rather than realistic pledges, they made hastily made promises for the general election or made overuse of ‘pop-and-run’ promises that caused controversy over cash distribution. At the very end of the nomination process, some candidates are suddenly nominated in regions where they have no connections, leading to a situation where people do not even know who the candidates are. Nevertheless, in order to avoid the worst kind of ‘blind voting’, we must look at and evaluate the promises made by each party. To this end, we verify and introduce the pledges of both parties that voters must know before going to the polls.
Ahead of the April 10 general election, the Democratic Party of Korea pledged to ‘pay 250,000 won per person in livelihood recovery support,’ ‘five basic social policies,’ and ‘expand child allowance payment to 200,000 won.’ It was also pointed out that the pledges that had already appeared in previous major elections, such as making Olympic Boulevard underground, but were ultimately not realized due to budget issues were rehashed.
On the 24th of last month, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung proposed paying 250,000 won in local currency per person as support for people’s livelihood recovery. Although it is not included in the official pledge book, Representative Lee himself proposed it with the aim of overcoming the economic crisis by increasing household income. The Democratic Party estimated that a budget of about 13 trillion won would be needed for this.
As for the low birth rate pledge, it was said that a child allowance of 200,000 won per month would be provided to children under the age of 18. The age for child allowance payment, which previously was under 8 years old, has been expanded. The government also promised ‘Our Child Self-Reliance Fund’, which will provide 100,000 won per month until the child graduates from high school. A loan of 100 million won per household with a maturity of 10 years was also promised to newlyweds.
Some of this content was also included in the five basic social policies announced by Representative Lee. It is an extension of CEO Lee’s brand policy, ‘Basic Income’, and the key contents are △birth income △basic housing △free education △care support △lunch for senior citizens. It included the creation of a residential complex platform with 1 million basic homes and free education at national universities and technical colleges.
By generation, the ‘30,000 won monthly youth pass’ and ‘Establishment of an integrated dormitory of 200,000 won per month’ were introduced targeting young people to reduce transportation costs. For the elderly, they said they would reduce the burden of medical expenses by applying health insurance for nursing hospital care expenses and provide lunch at a senior center five days a week.
In terms of balanced national development, the pledge to ‘create 10 Seoul National Universities’ was announced. The goal is to increase competitiveness by raising education costs per student to 70% of Seoul National University’s level through intensive investment in nine national universities nationwide.
Among these, many cash pledges were included, but no proper plan for raising financial resources was presented. Regarding ‘reimbursement of nursing hospital care expenses’, the Ministry of Health and Welfare predicted that a budget of up to 15 trillion won would be needed, but the Democratic Party did not reveal a plan to raise financial resources, such as increasing health insurance premiums.
The Democratic Party also made a pledge to make the railway and Olympic Expressway underground. Last February, a plan was announced to underground a total of 259 km, including 9 railway lines including the Gyeongin Line and Gyeongbu Line, 5 metropolitan urban railway lines, and 3 GTX lines. With a week left before the general election, candidates running in Seoul announced on the 3rd that they would make Olympic Boulevard underground as a common pledge.
These pledges appeared repeatedly in each of the past major elections, but were ultimately not realized due to problems with massive budget investment. In fact, it was predicted that the Democratic Party would need a budget of around 80 trillion won to make the railway underground, and 9 trillion won to make the Olympic Expressway underground. During the Seoul mayoral by-election two years ago, former Democratic Party candidate Song Young-gil pledged to make Olympic-daero and Gangbyeonbuk-ro underground.
Reporter Myungjin Yoon [email protected]
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2024-04-10 05:03:07