[Breaking News] Lee Jae-myung Announces Presidential Candidacy... "Turning Crisis into Opportunity, Creating a Nation of Hope" [Full Text]

"An Excellent Opportunity to Transition from a Catch-up Economy to a Leading Economy"
"Though a Non-mainstream Dirt Spoon, We Will Turn Crisis into Opportunity"
"I Will Stay Close to the People as a Worker Representing Sovereign Citizens"
"We Will Expand Infrastructure on a Large Scale and Restructure the Industrial System"
"Unfairness and Polarization Are the Causes of Crisis... We Will Pursue Reform"

Declaration of Candidacy for the 20th Presidential Election Democratic Party Candidate Lee Jae-myung

A New Republic of Korea!

Lee Jae-myung Will Do It!

Respected Citizens!

Dear Party Members and Comrades!

"The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic."

"Sovereignty resides in the people of the Republic of Korea,

and all power comes from the people."

Reading Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea,

with a fearful and solemn heart,

I hereby declare my candidacy for the 20th presidential election.

The reason for creating a state and living together

is for a safer and better life.

Politics, which represents the will of sovereignty,

must protect the lives and safety of the people with strong security,

and cultivate a better life for the people on a foundation of fair order.

We must restrain the desires of the strong based on privilege and unfairness,

and through politics that support the weak and suppress the strong,

we must move toward a great harmony society where everyone lives well together.

The Republic of Korea has become a developed country through the blood and sweat of its people.

Our generation lived in a world where, despite harsh realities, there were opportunities to challenge,

and tomorrow was believed to be better.

However, the lives of the people of the Republic of Korea today

are facing a crisis.

The despair of the youth generation, who have become a vulnerable class,

hurts us deeply.

The crisis of the people is the crisis of the nation.

Politics must answer the people's questions:

"Is today safer than yesterday?

Will tomorrow be better than today?"

The energy transition and digital transformation

not only require industrial and economic restructuring,

but also demand changes in the very framework of daily life,

which is another crisis.

Someone’s unfair gain is someone else’s loss.

The profit gained by the strong breaking the rules

is the damage suffered by the weak who do not even have the power to break the rules.

Unfair income such as speculative profits

lowers motivation,

and increases inequality and polarization.

More than ever,

with more capital,

better technology,

greater labor force,

and stronger infrastructure,

we suffer from low growth

because of unfairness and inequality.

Inequality and polarization

go beyond the emotional issue of relative poverty,

damaging growth engines through inefficient resource allocation and deteriorating competition efficiency,

leading to economic recession and low growth.

Low birthrate, aging, unemployment,

conflicts and divisions,

private education and exam hell,

all these problems

are mainly caused by opportunity poverty due to low growth.

The era of high growth, when investment increased employment, income, and consumption,

and the economy circulated positively, is gone.

Now, there is plenty of money to invest,

but employment does not increase even if the economy grows.

Due to reduced opportunities, competition overheats,

and overheated competition turns dissatisfaction with unfairness into anger.

Now, survival of the fittest and infinite competition have become everyday life.

Create Paths in the Wilderness Without Roads.>

Problems created by people can be solved by people’s power.

Since politics is about adjusting interests,

the more reform policies benefit more people,

the greater the resistance from vested interests.

Politics is not an idea contest,

and policies have no copyrights.

Choosing the most efficient policy among many

is a matter of courage and determination, and requires strong driving force

for reform policies to succeed.

Historically, fair countries prospered,

and unfair countries perished.

Fair societies are full of dreams and passion,

while unfair societies breed frustration and avoidance.

A country where following the rules does not cause loss,

where there are no unfair people or unfair regions,

where opportunities are equal, and fair competition results

in just rewards, has a future.

Securing fairness,

alleviating inequality and polarization,

expanding welfare,

and guaranteeing economic basic rights

to ensure everyone enjoys at least minimal economic prosperity

are essential for sustainable growth and a better life for the people.

The economy belongs to the private sector and the market,

but large-scale industrial and economic restructuring in the era of great transition

is difficult to handle by private companies and markets alone.

Like the New Deal during the Great Depression,

in the era of great transition, the public sector must pave the way,

enabling the private sector to invest and innovate boldly.

Through regulatory rationalization,

we must secure a free space where corporate creativity and innovation are possible.

With a future-oriented human resource development system,

we must foster basic and advanced science and technology,

and expand support for culture and arts to strengthen cultural content.

Through large-scale infrastructure expansion and strong industrial and economic restructuring,

we must expand investment opportunities, discover new growth engines,

and open the path to new jobs and sustainable fair growth.

If we are half a step late, we will be dragged along,

but if we are half a step ahead, we can turn crisis into opportunity.

The global crisis

is a golden opportunity for our economy

to move from the hard-fought catch-up economy of the past

to a leading economy.

Establishing a peace economy on the Korean Peninsula,

and revitalizing the northern economy opening the continent,

will also be great forces for new growth.

In politics where promises are broken without sanctions,

breaking pledges is commonplace,

and thus politics is a target of distrust and ridicule.

With a few experts, plausible pledges can be made anytime.

The past reflected in the mirror of the present is the future.

If you want to know someone's future, look at their past.

I, Lee Jae-myung, only make promises I can keep, and I have always kept my promises.

This is why my pledge fulfillment rate exceeded 90% during my 8 years as Mayor of Seongnam and 3 years as Governor of Gyeonggi Province.

With a firm philosophy and values centered on the sovereign,

courage and determination, overcoming resistance with strong driving force,

I have proven results.

Only those who have overcome crises

can overcome crises.

Anyone can seize opportunities,

but turning crises into opportunities

is not something just anyone can do.

Though I am a non-mainstream from a humble background with many crises,

I have turned crises into opportunities and achieved results.

I, Lee Jae-myung,

can turn the crisis-ridden Republic of Korea into a hopeful nation.

I will remember the youth who bought fruit for the first time thanks to the youth dividend,

the single-parent head of household who decided to live again thanks to ultra-low credit loans,

the small business owner who did not close their store because of disaster basic income,

and the part-time youth worker who was happy to receive unpaid wages with the help of Gyeonggi Province.

A country where women do not feel unsafe,

where there is no worry about discrimination and career breaks,

where dragons rise even from humble beginnings according to effort and ability,

where people do not have to risk their lives to work,

where friends do not hate each other because of excessive competition,

where parents’ backs are not bent by private education costs,

and where public education alone sufficiently nurtures necessary competencies, I will build.

I will ensure that the poor who are imprisoned for stealing eggs out of hunger,

the elderly suffering from the world’s highest poverty rate and worrying about insecure old age,

and families who give up on life due to hardship and debt

no longer appear in the news.

Just as we have cleaned up illegal valley facilities that seemed impossible,

we will better protect actual residences,

strengthen taxes and financial restrictions on speculative housing,

and provide appropriate supply of sale housing and sufficient basic housing,

so that no one suffers from housing problems anymore.

I will immediately start strong economic revival policies

that turn the crisis of great transition into an opportunity for economic leap.

Through revolutionary future-oriented economic and industrial transformation,

I will increase quality jobs,

expand national fiscal capacity,

and lay the foundation for a universal welfare state.

By introducing basic income to increase insufficient consumption,

I will revive the economy,

and create a society where everyone enjoys at least minimal economic prosperity

and does what they want.

With more investment in culture, arts, and sports,

I will build a cultural powerhouse in the world where healthy citizens create and enjoy high-level culture and arts.

With sufficient social safety nets,

I will create a rational labor environment where layoffs are not feared,

and equal pay for equal work is guaranteed.

Between the poor and the rich,

the strong and the weak,

small and medium enterprises and large corporations,

regular and irregular workers,

urban and rural areas,

the metropolitan area and provinces,

in all areas of conflict,

I will restore balance and common sense through social grand compromise.

When competition ends,

according to the principle of representing everyone,

I will build a thriving new country through merit-based, non-discriminatory talent recruitment.

The Korean Peninsula faces both crisis and opportunity

due to the clash of maritime and continental powers.

Based on strong independent national defense, through interest-centered balanced diplomacy,

I will open a new path of peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity.

Not politics of factionalism and party interests waiting for the opponent’s failure or the lesser evil,

but a stage of competitive politics where we compete to see who does better.

I will keep promises to the people,

focus on practical livelihood reforms as I have done,

and make small but tangible changes in lives everywhere.

Not a ‘leader’ who lectures the people,

but a worker representing the sovereign,

I will be by the people’s side, not in high places.

In difficult times, I will always be at the forefront,

bearing wounds and responsibility to open the way.

As a member of the Democratic Party who has achieved historic results such as democratization of the Republic of Korea,

overcoming the foreign exchange crisis,

establishing the welfare state framework,

and settling peace on the Korean Peninsula,

I will humbly listen to the voices of the people in the field

and build a better national party.

Building on the proud foundations of the Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in administrations,

I will add what is needed,

fill what is lacking,

correct mistakes,

and stand before the people as a more competent 4th Democratic Party government,

a newer Lee Jae-myung government.

Respected citizens,

you support me, who has no political backing, organization,

money, or connections,

because of the small achievements and sense of efficacy I created while leading Seongnam City and Gyeonggi Province.

I, Lee Jae-myung, proven by results,

ask you to give me greater tools to demonstrate my prepared capabilities for the country.

I will repay you with a new Republic of Korea and a better life for the people.

Crisis-ridden Republic of Korea! Now is Lee Jae-myung!

A New Republic of Korea! Lee Jae-myung Will Do It!

Thank you.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.