Inside the Race – Part 2: Rising Contender, Lee Jun-seok vs. Kwon Yeong-guk

Dear, EEUTs!

'Inside the Race- Part 2' focuses on emerging figures, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party and Kwon Yeong-guk of the Democratic Labor Party.

Both candidates currently hover around 10% in popularity polls.

While their chances of winning the presidency in this election are slim, they're actively participating in TV debates, making themselves known to the public.

Lee Jun-seok, a 40-year-old politician, advocates for a "New Conservatism" and proposes various policies aimed at the youth.

Kwon Yeong-guk emphasizes 'Progressive' and 'Labor' values in his platform. He has expressed an ambition to surpass the highest vote percentage (6.17%) ever achieved by a progressive party candidate in a presidential election.

1. Profiles: A Young Politician on an Elite Track vs. A Street Lawyer Who Stood with Workers

Lee and Kwon have been aggressively challenging the leading candidates in recent TV debates.

Despite lower support rates, they're showcasing their capabilities and making names for themselves as promising political figures.

For Lee, the issue of unifying with the conservative party candidate, Kim Moon-soo, is a hot topic.

He's firmly rejecting this possibility, showing determination to stand as a 'new conservative for the youth.'

Kwon is raising his voice on human rights and worker-related issues that leading candidates are addressing cautiously. He questioned Lee Jae-Myung about enacting an anti-discrimination law and criticized Kim Moon-soo regarding the Serious Accidents Punishment Act for workers.

However, both candidates face questions about their administrative abilities.

Lee has mainly worked within political parties since entering politics in 2011. He was first elected as a district representative in 2024.

Kwon, on the other hand, has lost three consecutive elections to the National Assembly.

▶From 'Park Geun-Hye's Kid' to Youngest Party Leader vs. Street Lawyer Turned Politician

🟧 In Korea, the minimum age to run for president is 40 - exactly Lee Jun-seok's age. One of the labels often attached to him is 'elite.'

Lee graduated early from Seoul Science High School, then briefly attended KAIST, one of Korea's elite universities, before dropping out.

He then got accepted to Harvard University in the US, earning a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Economics.

After graduation, he returned to Korea and founded a non-profit educational service organization.

It's known that former President Park Geun-hye, then a member of the National Assembly, suggested he pursue a career in politics.

At 26, Lee entered politics and rose to fame as one of the "A political protégé of Park Geun-hye."

He has been through several elections alongside prominent conservative figures, including Park Geun-hye, Oh Se-hoon, and Yoon Suk-yeol.

• April 2021: Contributed to Oh Se-hoon's (current Seoul Mayor) election as head of the New Media Headquarters

• June 2021: Elected as the People Power Party leader, becoming the youngest party leader in his 30s

• 2021: Standing Election Committee Chairman for Yoon Suk Yeol's presidential campaign

However, there are no eternal allies in politics.

Amid conflicts with former President Yoon, Lee was severely disciplined by the party over allegations of instructing evidence destruction in a prostitution case. He then left the People Power Party and founded the Reform Party.

Last year, prosecutors cleared him of these allegations. After last year’s martial law, he harshly criticized former President Yoon and strongly advocated for his impeachment.

Through this process, Lee has rallied supporters and is positioning himself as the face of 'New Conservatism' in this presidential election.

🟨 Kwon was known as the 'Street Lawyer' in labor circles. He earned this nickname for being present at almost every labor protest site in Korea during the 2000s.

In the recent presidential TV debate, he made headlines by naming each worker who died from industrial accidents and those currently engaged in protests.

Focused on overcoming childhood poverty through education, he graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Metallurgical Engineering and joined a defense company.

When a worker died in an explosive accident at the company's factory, he was fired for posting flyers exposing the company's attempt to avoid proper compensation for the victim's family.

He then fought for reinstatement, accumulating several criminal records in the process. He continued to fight for workers' rights and passed the bar exam at 36, becoming a labor and human rights lawyer.

• 2002: Established and became the first director of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) Legal Center

• 2008-2014: Labor Committee Chairman of Lawyers for a Democratic Society

He decided to enter politics after workers lost in the Supreme Court ruling in the Ssangyong Motor layoff case, which he had advocated for.

He has been active in progressive parties, including the Justice Party and the Green Justice Party.

When the Justice Party suffered a crushing defeat in the last general election, with no elected members, no one wanted to lead the party. In 2024, he ran unopposed and became the party leader.

He announced his candidacy on May 1st, Labor Day, and is on the ballot as the 'Democratic Labor Party' candidate (Number 5).

▶Alternative Military Service and Civil Movement-Related Criminal Records

🟧 Lee served alternative military service through the "Industrial Technical Personnel Service Special System."

This special system selects individuals with a military duty to serve alternatively in research institutes or industries, thereby enhancing national competitiveness.

When questions were raised about whether he was an appropriate person for this special system, Lee disclosed his 'Information Processing Engineer Certificate' to clarify that he had served alternative service through proper procedures.

He is also the only candidate among the four without a criminal record.

🟨 Kwon was also exempted from military service.

He was wanted as the mastermind behind a labor strike when his military enlistment notice came. He was later arrested and sentenced to 2 years in prison.

According to the law that exempts those sentenced to imprisonment or penal servitude for more than 1 year and 6 months from conscription, he did not serve in the military.

Kwon has four criminal records. Most of them occurred during periods of civil unrest.

• 1989 & 1991: Occurred while fighting after being fired for allegedly leading labor union strikes

• 2016: Related to the Ssangyong Motor layoff rally. The insult charge was for swearing while protesting against the police's dispersal announcement

• 2022: Incident where he was dragged out for shouting that the decision to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party was unjust at the Constitutional Court

2. Pledges: Appeals to Young Conservative Base vs Focus on Progressive and Labor Rights

🟧 Candidate Lee emphasizes a "small government." He also presented pledges that could appeal to young conservatives, such as 'separating new-old national pension' and 'easing regulations on foreign workers'.

🟨 On the other hand, Candidate Kwon's policies exhibit a pronounced progressive tendency. His pledges focus on progressive and labor rights issues, such as "taxing the rich," "enforcing labor laws," and "promoting anti-discrimination laws."

• Lee Jun-seok's election bulletin - [Link]

• Kwon Yeong-guk's election bulletin - [Link]

▶1st Pledge: Criticism of Imperial Presidency vs Resolving Inequality

🟧 Lee's first pledge is 'Creating a government that works well with less presidential power.'

He views the current presidential authority as too extensive. He says he will distribute this power and reorganize departments to create a small and efficient government.

To achieve this, he plans to consolidate 19 ministries into 13 to eliminate overlapping functions and appoint three new deputy prime ministers for security, strategy, and social affairs to strengthen the responsible management system.

He specifically mentioned merging or abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Unification, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.

🟨 Kwon emphasizes 'Resolving inequality through tax increases.'

He aims to address wealth inheritance and asset disparities through taxing the rich and mitigate inequality by taxing financial and asset income.

He firmly stated that he would increase inheritance and gift taxes by 90% and raise the highest tax rate.

He plans to use these collected taxes to introduce a "social inheritance system" that provides 50 million won to all young people turning 20.

He also said he would impose property and acquisition taxes on real estate owned by religious organizations and a 'digital service tax' of 3% on the domestic sales of global platform companies.

▶Economic Resources: Return of Factories to Korea vs Nuclear Phase-out and Decarbonization

🟧 Lee also presented a pledge to revitalize local economies by relocating overseas factories back to major national industrial complexes in Korea.

He said he would ease regulations for returning companies, such as applying differentiated wages for migrant workers for up to 10 years.

He also plans to create a new 'Industrial Complex Special Visa (E-9-11)' and quota system to enable returning companies to employ migrant workers quickly.

In his election bulletin, he included a handwritten letter pointing out that "in an era where AI and robots are changing daily life, the practice of each candidate producing millions of paper prints still seems out of step with the times."

In the 21st presidential election, approximately 47 million paper ballots were sent out. Between 320 and 370 billion won in taxes was spent on mailing alone.

As a result, there are growing calls to reduce environmental problems and waste caused by printed materials. However, some concerns introducing electronic bulletins could cause equity issues for older people with lower digital accessibility.

🟨 Kwon emphasizes the slogan, "Just transition to a decarbonized society to overcome the climate crisis."

To achieve this, he pledges to make addressing the climate crisis a top priority, including the establishment of a 'Climate and Energy Ministry.'

He promises to allocate 4% of the country's economic scale annually to 'green investment.'

He also announced a roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality. He stated that he would ban the construction of new coal-fired power plants by 2030 and declare a 'coal phase-out' by 2035.

Of course, this includes closing nuclear power plants that have reached the end of their design life and not building new ones.

Additionally, he plans to cease investing in the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and instead focus on investing in renewable energy technologies.

▶Defense Resources: Officer Selection from Active Duty Candidates vs. Peace on the Korean Peninsula and Introduction of a Volunteer Military System

🟧 Lee emphasized securing sufficient resources for national defense through an officer and non-commissioned officer selection structure centered on enlisted soldiers.

He also stated that he would reduce the service period for short-term non-commissioned officers and officers to a minimum of two years and provide full college tuition support for the duration of the service. (Currently 4 years for NCOs, 3 years for officers)

The method is as follows: All conscription candidates receive four weeks of integrated basic military training, and top performers, based on their training results, are selected as officer and NCO candidates.

This system reform is benchmarked against Singapore.

In Singapore, all military enlistment candidates receive 9 weeks of basic training, and NCOs and officers are selected from among those who complete the training.

🟨 Kwon proposed a "volunteer military system" as his defense resource card.

He said he would introduce a "Korean-style volunteer military system" to achieve an "elite force of 300,000." He also promised to guarantee minimum wages for soldiers and strengthen the protection of military human rights officers.

He also emphasized the importance of "peace" in inter-Korean relations. He proposed resuming the "Korean Peninsula Peace Process" to restore military agreements and restart the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Kumgang tourism.

He plans to improve inter-Korean relations through an "Inter-Korean Basic Agreement" that includes previously made declarations.

▶Labor Environment: Delegating Minimum Wage Decision Authority to Local Governments vs. Introducing the Yellow Envelope Law, etc.

🟧 Lee is focusing on "regional differentiation of minimum wages."

He argues that the final decision-making authority for minimum wages should be transferred to local governments to strengthen regional autonomy and create labor policies tailored to local situations.

If this policy is implemented, local governments can freely adjust their minimum wage within a 30% range based on the minimum wage set by the central government. This aims to reflect the differences in living, housing, and labor costs between regions in wages.

🟨 Kwon's position is to implement existing labor issues that have been discussed, such as the Yellow Envelope Law and the Gender Wage Disclosure System.

• Labor Standards Act: Change the Act’s name and apply the law to businesses with 4 or fewer employees, changing the current reality where the Labor Standards Act does not apply to workplaces with fewer than 5 employees.

• Yellow Envelope Law: This law limits companies from claiming damages when workers engage in dispute actions and defines original contractors, multi-business owners, and intermediary platforms that provide actual work direction as "employers" to assign responsibility.

• Youth Job Guarantee: Plan to increase youth jobs centered on the public sector and gradually increase the mandatory employment rate for young job seekers in public institutions.

• Gender Wage Disclosure System: A law requiring the disclosure of data such as gender employment rates, gender ratio of managers, average wages by gender, and gender wage gaps. It will be introduced initially in public institutions and companies with 500 or more employees and will be gradually expanded.

▶Key Points: Separation of National Pension vs. Enactment of Anti-Discrimination Law

🟧 Lee has stepped up to address the "National Pension," which has recently caused discontent among the younger generation.

He proposes separating the existing pension (old pension) and new pension to ensure intergenerational equity.

In addition, he advocates for introducing a defined contribution pension plan where the pension amount is determined based on the contributions made.

He is also showcasing policies targeting the youth by proposing a "Strong Start Fund" that would provide loans of up to 50 million won without usage restrictions for young people aged 19-34.

🟨 Kwon is the only presidential candidate to include the "enactment of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law" in his pledges.

This law prohibits "unreasonable" discrimination based on gender, disability, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, employment type, medical history, etc.. It supports victims of discrimination in receiving substantial remedies.

While several related laws already exist, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and the Disability Discrimination Act, there are calls for the enactment of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that covers various reasons.

In Korea, since it was first proposed in the National Assembly in 2007, it has remained a topic of discussion; however, due to various concerns, it has not yet been enacted.

3. Issues and Risks: Instigating Social Conflict and Opposition to Dissolution of Unconstitutional Parties

Recent polls indicate that Lee Jun-seok's support stands at 11%, while Kwon Yeong-guk's support is at 1%.

While both candidates have low chances of winning the presidency, they are expressing their political stance through TV debates and other platforms, rallying their supporters.

▶ 🟧 Lee Jun-seok: Accused of Fueling Gender Conflict with Anti-Feminism?

Lee has been criticized for his anti-feminist statements and actions. This may be why he was voted 'Most Disliked by Women in their 20s'.

He has particularly stirred controversy with statements seen as promoting gender conflict:

• "Women should serve in the military if they want to become police officers or firefighters."

• "Women in their 20s and 30s can participate in rallies more because public safety is good."

• "The Dongduk Women's University protest was uncivilized."

Lee is also implicated in the ongoing Myung Tae-kyun Gate investigation. This case involves allegations that former President Yoon and his wife allegedly interfered with the People Power Party's nominations through political broker Myung Tae-kyun.

Lee is suspected of discussing nominations with former PPP members Kim Young-sun and Myung at Chilbul Temple.

While the discussed nominations didn't materialize, and Lee denies all allegations, his connection to Myung remains a matter of controversy.

▶ 🟨 Kwon Yeong-guk: Extreme Progressive? Controversy over Unified Progressive Party Support

In 2014, Kwon was tried for shouting, "Today, the Constitution has destroyed political freedom and democracy," during the Constitutional Court's decision to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) as unconstitutional.

He was found guilty of causing a courtroom disturbance and fined 5 million won.

The UPP was the first party in Korean history to be dissolved as unconstitutional through constitutional procedures.

The Ministry of Justice claimed that the UPP was a pro-North Korea party acting by North Korea's strategies. The Constitutional Court voted 8-1 to dissolve the party.

However, this case was controversial. The New York Times reported that South Korea's Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of a small leftist party accused of supporting North Korea, expressing concerns about freedom of expression.

***

We've looked at all four candidates.

The June 3 presidential election is less than a week away. Election Day is a public holiday in Korea. 🗓️

Early voting will be available on May 29-30 for those who are unable to vote on Election Day. 🗳️

Korean politics remains unpredictable.

Who do you think will be elected as the next president of South Korea? 🤗