The Saenuri Party's candidate Park Geun-hye will square off against opposition Democratic Unified Party candidate Moon Jae-in in the upcoming Dec. 19 presidential election, as independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo quit the race on Nov. 23. He told a news conference he decided to quit the race after last-minute efforts to reach a deal on a unified candidacy with Moon foundered.

With just one month to go for the presidential election as of Nov. 19, voters had been wondering not only who is a unified opposition candidate, but also what policy differences the candidates have, turning the contest into the foggiest one since the introduction of the direct presidential election in 1987.

The political landscape was uncertain as the opposition side had been haggling over who would be a unified presidential candidate°™ Moon Jae-in on the ticket of the opposition Democratic United Party or Ahn Cheol-soo, an independent candidate°™ even though just 30 days were left before the Dec. 19 presidential election. The two candidates earlier agreed in principle to field a unified candidate, but the negotiations on the details, including the candidacy selection method, broke down. They clashed at a one-on-one debate, televised live late on the evening of Nov. 21. The candidates are now running against the clock to make it to the deadline, the final day of candidate registration, which falls on Nov. 26. 

Any television debates among major ruling and opposition party candidates, including ruling party and conservative candidate Park Geun-hye, has yet to be held, fueling worry that the poll may end up a popularity contest stemming from a lack of screening of candidates’ policies and visions. 

It appears apparent in some respects that history repeats itself. In the 2002 presidential election campaign, then-opposition candidate Roh Moo-hyun and independent candidate Chung Mong-joon attempted to field a unified candidacy against the then ruling party candidate Lee Hoi-chang, but to no avail.  

The domestic political situation here strikes a sharp contrast with the U.S. presidential election, which took place about one month ago. The United States agreed on the timing of the TV debates between Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney 161 days ahead of the poll. 

As to the issue of the opposition side’s unified candidacy, Park commented, “As a matter of fact, the problem is that we’re worried about our nation’s future. With one month left before the presidential election, the candidate on the opposite side has yet to be decided, turning the political landscape into the foggiest one since the inception of the direct presidential election system in 1987. How can you dare to call it political reform?” She made the remarks at a meeting with reporters from economic dailies on Nov. 20.

Park lashed out at the opposition side, saying that the reason people are saying that the current presidential contest lacks the screening of candidates’ policies is due to the foot-dragging in deciding on an opposition side candidate. “People are fraught with a mountain of problems such as being so-called house poor, the elderly cannot dispose of their houses due to falling prices, mounting rental fees, household debts°™ so why are they dragging their feet in discussing the unified candidacy issue”

When asked why her pledge over the issue of the so-called economic democratization has been more watered down than initially planned, Park denied it, saying that she now takes the same attitude as she gave at a speech at Stanford University in 2009. “An in-depth look at the announcement made by my campaign this time indicates that it contains strongly worded proposals to correct conglomerates’ bad practices,” she said. For example, she said, the president would be restricted from granting amnesty for business leaders who committed grave crimes. The exclusive accusation system of the Fair Trade Commission would be abolished, a class action system would be introduced and punitive damages would be embraced. If she is elected, Park said, she would make good on her promises, including the one on the restricting of the president’s right to grant amnesty for business leaders, shortly after she takes office. 

Park made it clear that her campaign’s economic democratization version is different from those of Moon and Ahn’s campaigns. The opposition side calls for an ultimate dissolution of chaebol (family-owned business groups) through forced spin-offs of subsidiaries by introducing a ceiling on equity investments within business groups, she said. 

The Saenuri Party’s version is designed to ensure fairness and transparency in the market so that economic entities can grow in a harmonious environment and share the warmth. When anyone who works hard is duly rewarded, the dynamics of the national economy will be revitalized, she said. Such bad practices as conglomerate chiefs’ excessive greed for their own interests and unfair trading practices would be sternly dealt with, the presidential contender said. 

As to her thoughts about economic growth, Park stressed a focus on investing in human capital and social capital. The nation has so far pursued an export-oriented policy, but a focus should be on a two-pronged strategy targeting both exports and domestic demand, said Park, adding that SME’s competitiveness should be enhanced sharply. 

In the short-term, she favored the brisk trading of real estate. Reductions of the real estate acquisition tax and capital gains tax, which are to expire at the end of this year, need to be extended, she said. 

Park favored steps to alleviate the national economy’s excessive exposure to the risks of foreign capital flows, but for the introduction of Tobin’s tax, a tax on spot conversions from one currency to another, saying that the latter needs to gain global consensus since Korea once served as the chair of the G20 Summit and is an OECD member country. 

Recognizing that Korea was staggered from the impacts of short-term foreign loans in the previous crises, she called for strengthened monitoring of short-term foreign loans and ramping up cooperative regimes for providing liquidity with major countries.  

MOON VS. AHN ON UNIFIED CANDIDACY°™ Moon and Ahn faced off in their make-or-break debate on Nov. 21 and agreed to meet the following day to strike a deal for a united opposition candidacy.

During the debate, the two liberal candidates reconfirmed their stand to join forces in beating the Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye in the Dec. 19 election, but the differences between their positions on the candidate selection method was apparent. 

Moon maintained that who will beat Park is part of the process of selecting a unified candidate, and that standard should be who would gain more support from the members of the public who want a change of administration.

But Ahn repeated his position that the unified candidate who would be sure to beat Park should be selected, not the head of the progressive circles. 

The main stumbling blocks for the negotiators were the question and timing of the proposed opinion polls.

Even though they share pleasantries during the debate, the deep mistrust and wrangling that flared up during the negotiations for selecting a unified candidate, are expected to have adverse effects on their image and chances in the election.

The most frequently asked question now is who will face the Saenuri Party’s front-runner, the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee who is enjoying popularity among conservatives.

Opinion polls have indicated that 60-year-old Park would cruise to a win in the event of a three-way race, but if she squared off only against either Moon or Ahn, it would be a neck-and-neck race. 

Ahn, the software mogul-turned-politician, attracts huge support from young liberal voters, partly due to his upright and clean image.

Moon, the former chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun, maintained that he is in a better position because he has a solid party base and political experience necessary to be president.