The backstory behind the race between Moon Jae-in and Park Geun-hye is an incredibly intriguing tale. When this is all settled, somebody should make a movie or TV series about this.
The histories of these two candidates are deeply interwoven into the greater narrative of the rise of democracy in South Korea, yet their respective rises to power couldn’t be any more different. Whereas Park was born into politics as the daughter of one of the most controversial figures in modern Korean history, Moon’s history is one of protest and human rights, putting him squarely in the path of everything Park Geun-hye represents.
From Student Protestor to the Blue House
In October of 1972, President Park Chung-hee, father of Geun-hye, did something…anti-democratic.
He suspended the National Assembly, the Constitution, and declared martial law. Then he replaced the Constitution with a document called the “Yushin Constitution,” which set no terms limitations on the office of president and gave him the power to enact laws unilaterally, without needing them to be duly voted on by the National Assembly. Park took his inspiration for this move from the Japanese Meiji Restoration, the movement that saw the return of the emperor and the establishment of Imperial Japan, which would later go on to invade and conquer South Korea in 1915 and hold it for 30 years (whoops!) Park Chung-hee’s idolization of Japan has not been lost in the modern political landscape of Korea, and Park Geun-hye is failing to escape this. Five days ago, progressive candidate Lee Jung-hee grilled Park over it and the Yushin government in general.
At the time of this bloodless coup, Moon Jae-in was a student at Kyung-hee University. Moon, along with many of his fellow students, wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea of having a president-for-life with unlimited executive power sitting in the Blue House. So, he and his fellow students took the the streets in demonstrations. In 1975, Moon was imprisoned by the Park government for participating in protests against the regime/for violating martial law. As a result, he was expelled from his university and upon his release was impressed into the South Korean Special Forces. In 1980, he was jailed again for leading pro-democracy demonstrations. He found out that he passed the bar while sitting in a jail cell.
Because of these too-frequent trips to the pen, Moon was denied in his application to become a judge. So, he moved to Busan and became a human-rights lawyer. The person who he worked for was a man by the name of Roh Moo-hyun, who would go on to become the president of South Korea (Roh’s presidency preceded the current presidency of Lee Myung-bak). Moon and Roh together formed the Busan Headquarters for the National Movement for Achieving a Democratic Constitution. Roh would cease practicing law to go into politics in 1988, but Moon had no interest at the time of entering politics himself.
Fourteen years later, Roh and Moon reconnected to support Roh’s campaign for presidency. Moon became Roh’s man in Busan as Director of the Busan Election Polling Committee, and after Roh’s victory, became the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs. More important than that, Roh and Moon were great personal friends. Moon became the closest aide to the president. After being defeated in the polls by Lee Myung-bak, Roh retired to the countryside and in 2009, committed suicide by jumping off a cliff after investigations began into possible bribery charges in his former administration. Roh has left behind a legacy and Moon is seen by many as the next Roh, and Moon has said himself in his autobiography that he feels that he has a duty to continue his friend’s policies and work.
Moon Jae-in’s platform and constituencies
Moon is your archetypical liberal. His platform, called “People First” is characterized by strong government intervention in the economy and in business. Here is a brief rundown of the campaign promises he has made:
- a “job’s revolution” – Moon promises to create an additional 1.5 million jobs in Korea by limiting workweeks to 52 hours a week (maybe you should be taking notes, 35 working hours France)
- Equal pay for equal jobs
- A minimum wage that is 50% of the average wage in South Korea
- Chaebol reform (this would be refreshing. The current administration is hand-in-glove with the chaebol, so far as to pardon CEOs guilty of embezzlement
- a return to the “Sunshine Policy,” a signature Roh Moo-hyun policy that encourages warm relations with the North by separating humanitarian aid from politics
Moon’s constituents skew towards the younger generation, who are having a tough time finding work in Korea’s highly competitive job market. He also will enjoy the support of the liberal DUP base, and those who suffered under the rule of Park Chung-hee’s strongfisted government.
Up until quite recently, the liberal vote was split between Moon and third party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo. While Moon is viewed as an old hand in politics, having served under Roh, Ahn was viewed as a political outsider who was very popular with university students and the younger generation who were looking for a fresh candidate unblemished by the political circus in Seoul. Park Geun-hye’s victory was all but assured during the three candidate race, so to that end Ahn has dropped out of the contest so Moon will have an opportunity to secure a victory. However, Ahn has only offered marginal support for Moon since dropping out and has not fully mobilized his supporters into Moon’s camp.
Will he win?
Right now the polls suggest that Park Geun-hye leads Moon Jae-in by a few percentage points, and with Ahn’s departure, Park’s lead has slimmed to fall within the margin of error. Park has led the contest literally the entire time. The keys to Moon’s victory are twofold – getting the younger generation to the polls to vote and securing a full and uncompromising endorsement from Ahn Cheol-soo. If both of these things occur, Moon has a puncher’s chance of securing the presidency.
As has been written before, the platforms of Park and Moon are similar in nature, although Moon is perhaps a little more progressive in his by offering to confront the chaebol. This election will not come down to promises made on the campaign trail. Rather, it is going to come down to who can get enough people out to vote and which side of the political spectrum a voter may lie on.
This election is incredibly intriguing, because both candidates are intimately linked with legacies of former Korean presidents who represent drastically different sides of the democratic model – Park Geun-hye with her father and Moon Jae-in with Roh Moon-hyun. Even more interesting is the fact that Park Chung-hee’s ghost colors the race for both candidates and both directly and indirectly is responsible for the political rise of both candidates. Park Geun-hye, being the daughter is a scion of the establishment and Moon, in retaliation towards that establishment, spent several years during his 20s sitting in jail. A quote from Moon sums up the underlying drama nicely:
“[Park Geun-hye] and I were both born in the year of the dragon, but we have led totally different lives. When I was living in poverty, she was living the life of a princess in the Blue House. When I was fighting against dictatorship, she was at the heart of it. After that, I lived for democracy and human rights, but she says [Park Chung-hee's Yushin government] was a decision to save the nation…It makes me feel desperate that such a reactionary person enjoys the highest support rate. That’s why I decided to run for the presidency” – Moon Jae-in via the hankyoreh