Presidential Hopefuls Looking Overseas

Former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, former chairwoman of the Grand National Party (GNP) Park Geun-hye, and former Gyeonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-kyu are planning to travel abroad at the beginning of next year. They are all presidential contenders of the opposition GNP.

They all think meeting and seeking advice from political figures and experts of foreign countries would help them develop better policies and campaign promises for the next presidential election. They also intend to increase recognition of them as presidential hopefuls since the presidential race within the GNP is becoming a fierce battle between contenders.

Sohn Hak-kyu is planning to visit either the U.S. or Russia next February. His campaign camp explained that the goal of the trip is to materialize a policy to make South Korea Northeast Asia’s logistics hub.

The former Gyeonggi governor has focused on domestic activities such as launching a “100-day crossing of the country to hear the voice of the general public” campaign and holding a town-meeting style “discussion with the general public by bus” campaign since he left his post this past June.

Park Geun-hye is expected to make a visit to a country among Australia, Britain, and France in late January or early February. Park visited Germany and China after she resigned from her post as chairwoman of the GNP in June. Park’s campaign camp said, ”Park is contemplating which country she will visit. Nothing has decided yet.”

Lee Myung-bak’s plans are not determined yet. He is considering a visit to a foreign country at the end of next January since everyone is busy at the beginning of a new year and the New Year’s holidays according to the lunar calendar falls on February next year. He is likely to visit a country in either Europe or Southeast Asia where he can look into and learn about their policies on energy, economic cooperation, and reforms of the public sector.

Lee’s campaign camp said, “It will be difficult to make a trip abroad after next February since the presidential race within the party will become really a fierce competition thereafter. So, it is not easy to set a date for Lee’s visit to a foreign country now.”

myzodan@donga.com mhpark@donga.com