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With presidential elections in South Korea coming closer, the gap between Democratic Union Party candidate Moon Jae-in and conservative leader Park Geun- hye is getting bigger.
However independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, creator of Ahn Lab, stepped out of the elections he rather failed to give a strong support for Moon during his campaign closing ceremony.
“When I announced my
intention to withdraw from the race on Nov. 23, I asked you to support
the single opposition candidate Moon Jae-in,” the software millionaire
told his supporters then.
This was the first and only time Ahn mentioned Moon by name during that speech.
Ahn
was significantly more focused on criticizing the negative
campaigning of Moon and Park, and had given a hint that his career in politics has just started.
In one of the next posts: about Ahn Lab creator, professor of Seoul National University- Ahn Cheol-soo.
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If I was a Korean I would vote for him and not any other two.
Too soon to predict wether Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in wins or looses against conservative candidate lady Park Geun-hye but there are no other candidates this time.
Independent researcher and businessman Ahn Cheol-soo stepped out of the presidential race leaving room for Moon Jae - in.
He said at the press conference: "I once told you I would put everything on the line
to produce one final opposition candidate. Becoming president and
ushering in a new politics is important to me, but I feel that the most
valuable thing of all is for politicians to keep a promise once they
have made one to the people."
His message was that keeping his promise as a
politician was more important than becoming president. Indeed, he made
keeping promises his priority as a
politician.
With this decision, the Democratic United Party's Moon Jae-in is now the
sole opposition candidate to the Saenuri ( former Hannara) Party's Park Geun-hye.
Left on the move. Park accuses her rival of ignoring security issues of South Koreans and of having false attitude to Northern Line Limit. Meet Moon Jae-in - Park's equivalent of Romney's Obama.
Moon Jae-in who won primaries in Democratic United Party this year is a
long term human rights activist who played a major role in South Korean
system transformation. He joined forces with the late president Roo Moo
Hyun starting Busan Law Firm as human rights attorney. He had been Roh's
best friend and political ally ever since.
Moon Jae-in was born on 24th January 1953 in Geoje and graduated from Kyung Hee University.
In 1988 he founded opposition newspaper The Hankyoreh which supported student protests. He also was human rights attorney at Pusan Bar and was actively involved in developing human rights awareness in South Korea ever since.
Despite being the chief of stuff for president Roh Moon was indifferent to politics ever up till this year when he decided to become a candidate in the presidential elections.
Moon was one of the architects of the Sunshine Policy which led to regular meetings between the leaders and increasing of economic aid for the North. Kim Dae-jung administration, which started it, helped as well to start family meetups between those who have been separated by the DMZ after Korean War in 1953.
During Roh presidency the idea of economic aid shaped itself into creation of the Kyeongsang Industrial Park. Approximately 15 South Korean companies employ there more than 40 000 workers
from North Korea with perspective to employ 26 000 as soon as possible.
Everything is supported from Seoul, facilities, constructions, energy
and transportation system together with money to pay for wages. By 2012
the Complex was said to employ approximately 725 000 North Korean
citizens and generate more than $500 million of income for North Korean
Economy. However after sinking of Cheonan Lee Myung-bak's administration toughened it's course towards North Korea and decided to be based on the moment and adequate reaction, not on any program or ideology. This led to putting embargo on any trade with North Korea.
Critics of Sunshine Policy say that in this case Seoul will be often simply blackmailed by North Korea whenever it wants more of aid. Moon's main oponent, conservative leader Park Geun-hye accuses Moon of not having clear vision of securing Northern Line Limit. But this maritime border between two countries had never actually been exactly drawn, and had been disputed ever since Korean War.
Moon is also a strong advocate against South Korean regionalism which leads to unequal chances of people coming from different provinces or cities.
More about Moon Jae-in:
From Arirang News, a short introduction to Moon jae-in.
My recent exploratory study shows that the era of conservatives in Korea has come to an end. But it does not mean that Moon stands chances alone either. He is backed by an independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo who already once was a kingmaker during mayoral elections in Seoul.
The then Grand National Party (now the Saenuri Party) candidate Na Kyung-won who was supported by Park was beaten by independent Park Won-soon who took advantage of Ahn’s support.
Moon and Ahn decided for unified candidacy this time and it may make a difference.
In the first free elections of 1987, the two leading
opposition figures, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung (both of whom later became presidents), were unable to overcome their differences and split the vote allowing ex-regime nominee Roh Tae-woo to win.
Park Kwang-on, a
spokesman for the Moon camp, said that they agreed to pick a single candidate before the
registration and will hold talks to make it happen. Let's see, who runs for a president and who becomes the Prime Minister.
******
Soon a story of Ahn Cheol-soo, a rising star of independent politics in South Korea. Also more about political plans of Moon Jae-in. Stay tuned.
