Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate for the People Power Party (PPP), officially kicked off his election campaign, expressing his willingness “to turn this nation into a country we are proud of with the great people [of South Korea].” On the 15th, the first day of the official election campaign, Yoon took the Gyeongbu Line (railroad) from Seoul to Busan to campaign at major stops.
Yoon made remarks at a campaign ceremony at the Cheonggye Plaza in Seoul earlier in the day after visiting the National Cemetary in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. Yoon focused more on criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration and the Democratic Party of Korea (DP) than attacking other presidential candidates like DP’s Lee Jae-myung and People Party’s Ahn Cheol-soo.
Yoon said, “I will change the government according to the will of the great people [of the Republic of Korea],” and defined this presidential election as “an election to judge corruption, an election to right the Republic of Korea, an election to save the people’s lives, and an election to unify the Republic of Korea as one.”
He then emphasized, “Will you just sit back and watch the Republic of Korea continue to collapse by incompetent and corrupt political forces?” and, “Let’s make sure to judge this corrupt and incompetent Democratic regime through a change in government.”
He went on to pinpoint the main criticism of the current administration, “I will right the crushed lives of the people. I will save small business owners and the self-employed who were devastated by COVID-19. I will make sure that the house market price is secured for our young people. I will save the economy and provide secure jobs.”
In his speech, Yoon also suggested alternative policies, including a pledge of 200,000 homes to be built in areas adjacent to subway stations, a digital economy hegemony state, retract non-scientific quarantine passes, and eliminate the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
At a local campaign base in Daejeon, Yoon stated, “This presidential election is an election to judge corruption and incompetence, an election to determine whether the people will live or die, or an election that will divide or unite.” He continued, “Will we entrust another five years to the corrupt and incompetent Democratic Party? Will we entrust our livelihood to them for another five years?”
He asked, “To the people of Chungcheong, what was the DP administration like for the past five years? Was it good?” He went on to criticize, “They have hypocritically used the people’s power for their gain. They have made the people suffer in pain and have divided us with their outdated ideology.”
He also said, “The incompetent DP administration talked every day about their outdated ideology and ignored the science.” He criticized, “The policies they put forward every day were false, and 28 real estate policies have disrupted the market and have made the people suffer.”
Yoon went on to strongly criticize the Moon Jae-in administration’s nuclear phase-out policy, “How can we create new industries and science when we are killing off the world’s best technologies? In the process of our rapid growth, our electricity bills were a quarter cheaper compared to Japan. Where did South Korea’s industrial competitiveness come from? Why are they trying to ruin the country like this?”
Yoon said, “This is why we will save the economy and the livelihoods of the people,” and asked back, “Isn’t this why we must change the government for the sake of Daejeon, for the Republic of Korea from an incompetent and reckless administration?”
“I, Yoon Seok-youl, will put the people’s livelihood in the forefront,” and pledged, “I will save small business owners and the self-employed who were destroyed by COVID-19. I will set housing prices for young people and the common folk. We will revive the economy and create proper jobs. I will take care of those in need.”
Original article: https://www.jayupress.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=2467
