Financial agendas reveal deep partisan rifts on AI funding, labor rights and power technique
With lower than two weeks remaining till the June 3 presidential election, main candidates have recognized financial progress, synthetic intelligence, and power technique as key marketing campaign points.
However whereas Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Occasion, Kim Moon-soo of the conservative Individuals Energy Occasion and Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative New Reform Occasion, share these priorities, their proposals mirror broader ideological variations.
The Korea Herald has taken a better have a look at their marketing campaign platforms and guarantees to check their positions on the important thing financial points.
Final week, the candidates submitted their high 10 pledges to the Nationwide Election Fee. Each Lee Jae-myung and Kim Moon-soo ranked the financial system as their high precedence, signaling a shared urgency to revitalize the nation’s enterprise and monetary panorama.
Nevertheless, their approaches differ. A “honest financial construction” would function the muse for financial progress below a Lee presidency. His insurance policies embody cracking down on inventory manipulation and speculative funding habits, stricter protections for minority shareholders, and eliminating unfair practices to assist small and medium-sized firms develop.
In distinction, Kim promotes “freedom-led progress,” pledging to create a extra business-friendly nation by eradicating rules and providing tax incentives and subsidies to spice up company funding.
In the meantime, Lee Jun-seok believes financial progress may be achieved by easing regulatory hurdles and selling reshoring. He proposes overhauling the present regulatory sandbox system, together with a provision that might enable candidates to reference extra relaxed rules from different superior international locations and apply them domestically.
Lee additionally stresses “reshoring,” encouraging Korean firms which have relocated abroad to return and reinvest within the home market, by promising incentives, similar to sustaining the identical labor circumstances they’d abroad.
AI has taken heart stage within the presidential marketing campaign, with candidates pledging mega investments to rework the nation into an AI powerhouse.
Frontrunner Lee of the Democratic Occasion has been advocating a state-led initiative to domesticate the AI business, stressing the general public’s function in producing large-scale investments and making AI expertise broadly accessible.
Lee proposesa 100 trillion gained ($71.9 billion) fund by means of a public-private partnership, with the purpose for Korea to change into the world’s high three nations in AI.
With this funding, he vows to construct nationwide AI knowledge clusters, safe greater than 50,000 cutting-edge graphic processing models and assist the event of AI-critical neural processing models.
He additionally floated the concept of growing a “Korean-style ChatGPT,” offering it free to the general public. Different plans embody creating faculties specialised in AI at nationwide universities and increasing the vary of army service exemptions for science and tech expertise.
In the meantime, Kim’s AI coverage is extra market-oriented. He additionally promised a 100 trillion-won public-private joint fund, however it will likely be backed by international tech companies to spend money on AI startups.
His focus seems to be on nurturing tech expertise, with the intention to foster 200,000 AI professionals. This is able to be performed by means of increasing enrollment in AI graduate faculties and software-focused universities, and attracting employees from abroad.
Lee of the Reform Occasion, who has been vital of large-scale AI investments. proposes structural reforms to strengthen competitiveness in strategic sectors similar to semiconductors, batteries and AI, reasonably than outlining a devoted AI technique,
Lee’s insurance policies embody making a pension program to reward high researchers and tech abilities, implementing a fast-track immigration system for science and expertise specialists, easing retirement age restrictions and rising salaries for researchers to retain expertise.
The candidates are additionally miles aside on labor points, significantly relating to the contentious Yellow Envelope Invoice, a proposed revision to the Commerce Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. The modification goals to guard labor unions from companies looking for claims for damages incurred throughout labor disputes.
Although the Democratic Occasion-controlled Nationwide Meeting has tried to move the invoice twice, it was vetoed by former President Yoon Suk Yeol amid opposition from robust enterprise opposition.
Lee Jae-myung helps the invoice, pledging to strengthen protections for unionized employees and promote honest labor practices.
“The Supreme Courtroom has already acknowledged (the need) of this regulation. The Worldwide Labor Group additionally acknowledges it,” Lee mentioned in the course of the first televised debate on Sunday. “The yellow envelope invoice is one thing that have to be performed.”
In distinction, Kim opposes the invoice, contending in the course of the debate it could make it “unimaginable to do enterprise in Korea.” He argues that the invoice contradicts each the Structure and civil regulation and warns it might result in extended labor disputes.
On one other hot-button matter of working hours, Lee has proposed a discount of the whole workweek from 40 to 36 hours, shifting towards a 4.5-day workweek with no pay reduce and finally aiming for a four-day workweek.
Kim is extra cautious concerning the shorter workweek strategy. Kim’s PPP proposes sustaining the whole workweek on the present degree of 40 hours, permitting workers to work an additional hour Monday by means of Thursday on high of the same old eight hours to get a half break day on Friday. Kim additionally confused that such changes ought to be left to the discretion of particular person companies reasonably than mandated by regulation.
Go nuclear or go renewable?
Power coverage is one other space the place the candidates conflict. Lee is a believer in renewable power, vowing to shut all coal-fired energy crops by 2040 and construct extra large-scale photo voltaic and offshore wind farms.
In the meantime, Kim seeks a nuclear enlargement, constructing on the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s embrace of nuclear power. Calling nuclear power important for supporting high-tech industries similar to AI, which require a considerable quantity of power, his purpose is to extend the share of nuclear energy within the nationwide power combine to 60 %.
Lee of the Reform Occasion echoes Kim’s stance on nuclear energy, saying securing a secure energy provide is crucial issue for the event of the AI business.
However in current days, Lee of the Democratic Occasion has been adopting a extra versatile stance, not utterly ruling out nuclear energy as an choice. This marks a transparent departure from the nuclear phase-out coverage of earlier Democratic Occasion president Moon Jae-in.
“We’d like each nuclear energy and renewable power,” Lee mentioned in the course of the televised debate on Sunday. “On the subject of the query of how a lot every ought to account for, nuclear energy is dangerous and has sustainability points. Whereas we should always use nuclear power when obligatory, we ought to be steadily shifting towards a renewable energy-centered society.”
Negotiating Trump’s tariffs
The candidates additionally clashed on coping with US President Donald Trump’s tariff pressures and negotiating ways.
Lee of the Democratic Occasion mentioned, “There is not any have to rush” into making an early settlement with Trump throughout Sunday’s debate. Stressing Korea’s nationwide curiosity as crucial precept in negotiations, Lee mentioned he’ll put together the talks delicately, whereas stressing the necessity to diversify Korea’s export markets and export gadgets sooner or later.
In distinction, Kim mentioned he’ll maintain talks with Trump on the earliest doable date. “Based mostly on mutual belief between Korea and the US, we are going to efficiently conclude negotiations earlier than the expiration of the July 8 tariff grace interval,” Kim mentioned on the debate.
In the meantime, Lee of Reform Occasion argued the necessity to reply calmly and strategically with reference to talks with the US. “We have to make it clear that Korea and the US will not be merely buying and selling companions, however allies who share safety and technique,” he mentioned on the debate.
sahn@heraldcorp.com
