[비즈한국] The early presidential election is now just 15 days away. The official campaign period, which began on the 12th, is heating up. Candidates from both major parties have promised "economic growth," placing national development and the stabilization of people's livelihoods at the forefront. Bizhankook analyzed the core economic pledges of Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo.
Economic Growth Strategy: "State-led" vs. "Freedom-led"
Both candidates Lee Jae-myung and Kim Moon-soo have prioritized "economic growth" as their top policy goal. Candidate Lee Jae-myung pledged to "build a global economic powerhouse," while candidate Kim Moon-soo advocated for "freedom-led growth and a business-friendly nation."
Candidate Lee Jae-myung emphasizes "strategic state investment." His strategy is to drive the economy by concentrating support on six key global high-tech industries (ABCDEF), including AI, K-content, and the defense industry. Candidate Kim Moon-soo puts "freedom-led growth" at the forefront. His stance is to maximize private sector vitality through regulatory reform and tax incentives, shifting toward a business-centered economy.
Candidate Lee Jae-myung's vision involves building a foundation for growth by increasing public investment, such as "opening an era of 100 trillion won in private AI investment" and "establishing new AI-specialized colleges." Under the principle of "not giving cash, but helping people earn it," candidate Kim Moon-soo focuses on attracting investment by reforming corporate taxes, expanding incentives for corporate investment, and pushing for lower industrial electricity rates.
Livelihood Measures: "Direct Support" vs. "Strengthening Safety Nets"
Candidate Lee Jae-myung placed his pledges for small business owners and public livelihood third on his list, while candidate Kim Moon-soo placed them seventh. Candidate Lee Jae-myung highlighted direct support measures, including debt restructuring for COVID-19 policy fund loans, realistic business closure support grants, and the expansion of sickness benefits. Notably, his pledges focus on vulnerable groups, such as improving guarantee systems, establishing new internet banks specialized in mid-interest rate loans for vulnerable classes, and introducing an upper limit on delivery platform brokerage fees.
Candidate Kim Moon-soo plans to establish a presidential direct-reporting "Small Business and Self-Employed Support Group" to integrate and handle the various needs of small business owners at the government level. He has also planned to establish specialized banks for ordinary citizens and small business owners, provide emergency support for small businesses, and offer electricity vouchers. Plans also include increasing the budget for Onnuri gift certificates and offering credit card cashback for small business purchases.
Solving Problems via "Reallocating Existing Resources"? No Plans for Tax Increases
Both candidates plan to finance their pledges without raising taxes by "adjusting existing expenditure structures" or "attracting private investment." However, candidate Lee Jae-myung is focused on "state-led" economic cultivation through means like creating national funds and state R&D investment, whereas candidate Kim Moon-soo proposes a method of inducing favorable investment conditions through deregulation.
Candidate Kim Moon-soo announced his "Economic Pledges" separately on the 18th. At the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, that day, Kim announced that he would overhaul the economy by establishing a Regulatory Innovation Agency. The core is significant deregulation for businesses. He plans to establish a Regulatory Innovation Agency to manage various regulations on an ongoing basis and integrate reform functions, while also enacting a tentative "Basic Act on Free Economic Innovation" to exempt new businesses from regulations unique to Korea. He also stated he would relax flexible working hour requirements and allow changes to employment rules with the consent of employee representatives rather than the entire workforce.
Yoon Hee-sook, head of the People Power Party's pledge development team, criticized candidate Lee Jae-myung's pledges, saying, "There isn't a single word about making companies move better by lifting regulations. Democratic Party-style pledges that promise to spend money without explaining how the tax base will be managed are lies."
As of the 17th, candidate Lee Jae-myung is the only presidential candidate to have submitted an official election pledge document to the National Election Commission. The election pledge document is a document detailing the specifics, implementation plans, and timelines for major pledges.
In his pledge document, candidate Lee Jae-myung stated he would prioritize realizing a global economic powerhouse, promising: △ leapfrogging into one of the world's top three AI nations, △ building an energy highway, △ opening the era of a 5,000-point stock index, △ fostering ABCDEF global high-tech companies, △ expanding science and technology R&D budgets and achieving the status of a science and technology powerhouse, △ realizing a venture powerhouse by fostering the venture investment market, and △ establishing a national response system for the Arctic shipping route era.