Presidential Candidate Campaigns Should Be Thoroughly Reviewed

“The presidential election scheduled for year’s end is not a popularity vote.”

Jin Nyum, former deputy prime minister and current chairman of the Korea Forum for Progress, made opening remarks at its monthly meeting held yesterday at Bank Hall, Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. He said the public should make an exhaustive analysis on campaigns and policies of presidential candidates.

Jin also talked about many cases where economic policies are swayed by politics or special interests, leaving the whole nation in misery, and stressed the people’s role in reviewing campaigns and choosing the right reader who can give them hope and promise for the future.

Following his remarks, Lee Seung-hoon, an economics professor at Seoul National University, addressed the audience under the theme of “no more economic policies pandering to the public,” citing disclosure of construction costs and price ceilings on new homes as exemplary populist policies.

Lee explained that the upper limit on housing prices artificially defies the principle of price setting mechanisms in the market economy, breaking the link between excess demands and price hikes. The ceiling system diminished supplies of new apartments, sending housing prices skyrocketing in the late 1980s.

The professor added, “People endorse the system hoping for chances to purchase houses cheaply. However, if they realize only a few are given such opportunities, the housing market would fluctuate again.”

Lee also said, “Presidential hopefuls depend on populism with no respect for how to finance the campaign or its feasibility. Many factors should be reviewed, such as whether their policies fit in the market economy, whether they cause moral hazards or have relations with special interests or cliques, and how they finance campaigns.”

Lawmaker Kang Bong-kyun, pushing for creation of a new party, attended the meeting and conceded the reality that policies affect the fate of the election by only ten percent, with popularity taking up the rest.”

He attacked politicians against the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, saying that they are not aware of the urgency of the trade deal for Korea’s survival in the global market.

“It is nonsense that politicians claiming to want to lead the future of the nation oppose the FTA. If they are to continue their sabotage, they have to suggest measures to advance the nation without opening the market,” said Kang.

sanjuck@donga.com