Welfare pledges to become more elaborate toward presidential election


Rival party leaders appear to be chanting the same slogan of reviving the livelihood of the people in their campaigns for the April 11 general elections.

“The philosophy of the Saenuri Party is rooted in the people’s livelihood. Please vote for Saenuri if you want a National Assembly to work for the masses,” ruling party leader Park Geun-hye said on her first campaign stop at Gwanghwamun in Seoul on March 29 when official campaigning kicked off.

Likewise, Han Myeong-sook, chairwoman of the main opposition Democratic United Party, has highlighted the livelihood of ordinary people in her campaign speeches as the rationale of their party. However, she stresses the point by blaming both the current government and the ruling party for the hardships in their lives. 

“The past four years under the Lee Myung-bak government and the Saenuri Party were years of a crisis in the people’s livelihood. Depending on who is elected, the economy may be recovered or doomed to a prolonged era of the privileged,” Han said in a speech for a DUP candidate in Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, on Thursday.

To achieve this goal, both Saenuri and the DUP present the same policy directions, such as expanding welfare, creating jobs and democratizing the economy.

But details of the pledges reveal that the two parties are on different tracks to the same objective.

“When you look at the pledges closely, you will find them to be different. They are made by different people with different approaches,” said Lee Kwang-jae, secretary-general of Korea Manifesto Center, a non-profit organization established in 2006 to promote candidates’ pledge manifesto.

According to party pledges unveiled on March 21, Saenuri policies build on existing ones, while the DUP pushes to overhaul the system. On the theme of economic democratization, for example, Saenuri emphasizes a stronger system for fair trade between conglomerates and smaller businesses, while the DUP seeks radical change in conglomerates.

Party pledges will likely be more important in the presidential election in December.

“Whichever party wins more seats, its pledges will show a tendency to become more grand and radical as the presidential election approaches,” Lee said.

Yun Seong-yi, political science professor at Kyung Hee University, agreed.

“If the main opposition party sweeps a larger number of seats and the National Assembly convenes, it will likely seek to realize its expanded welfare policy through law revision or enactment, which may trigger a backlash from the government in the run up to the presidential election.”

For now, party pledges have failed to attract attention, as they came less than a month before election day, leaving little time for an in-depth debate.

“Also, as general elections tend to be more ‘retrospective’ while the presidential election is more ‘prospective’ in terms of how the votes play out, pledges will hold more importance during the presidential race,” Yoon said.

Turning to policy pledges, both parties seek to tighten control on conglomerates and ease restrictions on small and mid-sized companies. The Saenuri party will push for regular investigations of insider and unfair trading, and block conglomerates from encroaching on the domain of small and mid-sized businesses. The DUP has vowed to “foil the tyranny of conglomerates” by introducing a wealth tax on business moguls and capping an equity investment for the top 10 conglomerates. It also seeks to keep financial and industrial capital separate.

Saenuri’s job creation plans are designed largely for the youth and seniors, while the DUP focuses on the less privileged and irregular workers.

The Saenuri party pledges to spend 27.5 trillion won to raise the low birthrate and 12.8 trillion to alleviate taxpayers’ medical insurance burden. The DUP envisions 37.5 trillion won to realize “free medical services” and 3.3 trillion to trim down university tuition. Both parties pledge to cut college tuition in half.

More obvious differences are shown in their policies on inter-Korean relations.

The Saenuri party mostly maintains President Lee Myung-bak’s policy line of seeking reunification by maintaining security, exchanging visits of separated families and support for North Korean defectors to settle in the South. The DUP vows to scrap restrictions on inter-Korean trade imposed in 2010 after the North Korean torpedoing of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan. The opposition party instead will promote civilian exchanges and infrastructure businesses with the North.

The two parties are also visibly at odds over the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, with Saenuri pushing measures to support farmers and the DUP seeking a renegotiation of the deal.

On foreign affairs, the DUP states that approaches toward China must be further emphasized.

The DUP also pledges to hold a parliamentary probe and hearing on Lee’s pet project of refurbishing four major rivers. It will prevent the privatization of Incheon International Airport and KTX, as well as reforming the prosecution, which it criticizes of being biased in favor of the current government.

The minor Liberty Forward Party places top priority in raising the low birthrate. Most of its pledges are centered on its political home turf, Chungcheong Province. The Unified Progressive Party says it will build a welfare state and turn the screws on conglomerates. It also vows to seek peace on the Korean Peninsula through proactive disarmament. The Create Korea Party promises to create more jobs for the youth and suggests that the South should provide 1 million tons of food aid to the North for the next three years for a better inter-Korean relations.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)