South Korea: DP candidate Lee kicks off presidential election campaign
Seoul, May 12 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) South Korean Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung began his official campaign in central Seoul on Monday for the June 3 presidential election.
Lee launched his campaign at Cheonggye Plaza near Seoul’s Gwanghwamun, which the DP chose as a symbolic place representing the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, Yonhap news agency reported.
Seven candidates made their bids official for the presidential vote, triggered by Yoon over his failed martial law bid in December, with Lee expected to face People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo.
“This presidential election is not a battle between the DP and the PPP but a battle against the entrenched elite who have destroyed constitutional order and people’s lives through the insurrection,” he said at a ceremony to launch the party’s central campaign committee.
Public opinion polls have showed Lee has kept his lead, as the PPP had been in an internal rift on a possible candidacy merger between Kim and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo last week.
After the rally, Lee will travel to what he labels as the “K-Initiative Belt” — the suburban cities of Seongnam and Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province, and the central city of Daejeon.
He plans to hold a meeting with innovative industry workers in Pangyo, just south of Seoul, and campaign on the themes of semiconductors and technology in Dongtan and Daejeon.
The DP’s campaign committee also unveiled Lee’s key campaign pledges centered on fostering new industries to transform South Korea into a leading global economic powerhouse. The committee said it submitted a set of 10 pledges to the National Election Commission.
In the economic sector, the DP pledged to transform South Korea into one of the top three artificial intelligence (AI) powers and promised to increase the proportion of the AI budget to the level of developed countries.
It also vowed to amend the Commercial Act to expand the fiduciary duty of corporate directors from solely the company to both the company and its shareholders.
In diplomacy and security, the DP pledged to bolster diplomatic relations with four neighbouring countries based on national interests and pragmatism, reducing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and reclaiming wartime operational control.
Others included strengthening democratic control over the president’s martial law authority and transforming Sejong into Korea’s administrative capital.
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