[Letters] An off-track televised debate among candidates

Watching the first televised three-way debate Tuesday night, I felt it went on in a strange way. First, despite the overwhelming weight of the two presidential candidates - Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party and Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party - same opportunities were given to a third contender, Lee Jung-hee from the splinter opposition Unified Progressive Party.

That’s total nonsense. How can you give the same time to candidates with more than 30 percent support and a candidate with less than one percent support? I think the National Election Commision (NEC) must find some effective ways to let two major candidates - each representing the conservative and liberal camps - engage in a concentrated debate with each other.

Second, the third candidate, Lee, regrettably made very outrageous and provocative remarks against Park. Lee went so far as to attack Park by saying, “I appeared in this debate only to prevent Park from being elected president,” not to mention lopsided and self-centered assertions during the discussion. It is totally ridiculous for the UPP to pick such a candidate for president without a slightest sense of respect and etiquette toward other bidders.

I sincerely hope that the NEC comes up with any better ideas for the TV debates soon.

by Kang Hiok Student at Konkuk University