[CARD NEWS] President Moon Jae-in’s Biggest Promises
The 19th Korean President Moon Jae-in kicked off his term on May 10, 2017 at 8:09 a.m.
What changes has he pledged to the nation?
Here are his 10 big campaign promises.
1) Campaign promise one: Job Creation
Moon’s major promise in the economy was to solve the unemployment problem.
“I will create 810,000 jobs in public sector and 500,000 in private sector.”
- from his campaign manifesto
2) Campaign promise two: Raising the minimum wage
“Convert the irregular workers in the public sector to regular positions. Raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won [$8.86] per hour by 2020.”
- from his campaign manifesto
3) Campaign promise three: Acknowledging the honorable deaths of the two non-regular teachers who were onboard the Sewol ferry
The deaths of the late Kim Cho-won and Lee Ji-hye, who were victims of the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry and who sacrificed themselves to save their students, have not been recognized as “public servants who have died while on duty.” The only reason they have been excluded was because they were non-regular teachers.
Moon previously said that he will recognize the deaths of Kim and Lee as “deaths on duty” if elected.
- from his campaign manifesto
4) Campaign promise four: The bereaved families of policemen or firefighters who died on the job will be eligible for government compensation.
Moon said the government will provide compensation for not only the deaths of the public servants whose jobs are risky, but also the bereaved children.
- at the Seoul Metropolitan Fire Academy in January
5) Campaign promise five: Reducing the term of military service to 18 months. Raise soldiers’ wage.
“I will reduce the term of military service to 18-month, and raise the wage of the soldiers’ up to half of the minimum wage.”
- During the presidential debate on April 19
6) Campaign promise six: Full investigation on the massive tax spending on the four-rivers restoration project
Former President Lee Myung-bak pushed ahead with the four-rivers restoration project, which is aimed at building the Korean Grand Canal dredging and connecting the Han, Nakdong, Geum, and Yeongsan rivers.
The project faced a strong backlash for possibly causing massive destruction of the environment and existing ecosystem.
“2.3 trillion won is needed to purify the polluted four rivers. I will conduct a full investigation on the four-river restoration project.”
- On April 11, during his press conference on the vision of Busan
7) Campaign promise seven: Repealing the “comfort women” deal and receiving a sincere apology from Japan
“I will renegotiate on the comfort women issue and will receive a sincere apology from the Japanese government.”
- On April 4, mourning the death of the late Lee Soon-duk, a former comfort woman
8) Campaign promise eight: Abolishing the specialized high schools
“To get rid of the school hierarchy, I will gradually standardize the specialized elite high schools to make them the same as common high schools.”
- On March 22, during his press conference on education policies
9) Campaign promise nine: Rooting out corruption practices
This is Moon’s biggest pledge. He declared that he will reform the political authorities and governmental institutions to prevent corruption, following the abuse of power scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil.
10) Campaign promise ten: Gender Equality
“I will reinforce the government institutions with regards to women and increase the number of female officials.”
- from his campaign manifesto
11) Will Moon keep his promises to make a new nation?
Directed by Lee Jeong-bong
Constructed by Kim Min-pyo
Designed by Cho Sung-jin
Translated by Son Min-young
Edited by Jim Bulley
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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