Lee Nak-yeon "I Will Revive the Middle-Class Economy"

Declared Presidential Candidacy on YouTube 'InakyeonTV'
Presented 5 Visions Including New Welfare, Constitutional Reform, and New Diplomacy
Interest in Forming Anti-Lee Jae-myung Alliance with Chung Sye-kyun

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon declared his candidacy for the presidential election on the 5th, becoming the last among the nine ruling party presidential candidates to do so. On the same day, former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Assemblyman Lee Kwang-jae agreed to unify their candidacies under former Prime Minister Chung. This is seen as the beginning of a coalition among the remaining candidates to counter the 'Lee Jae-myung dominance.'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the same day, former leader Lee officially announced his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for March next year, presenting five visions: ‘New Welfare, Middle-Class Economy, Constitutional Amendment, Soft Power Nation Diplomacy, and Cultural Power Nation.’ He appealed for support, saying, "To sum up my promise in one sentence, it is to restore everything to its rightful place," pledging to return all sectors including society, politics, economy, welfare, and diplomacy to the pre-COVID-19 state.

With Lee’s declaration, the ruling party’s presidential candidate lineup is complete, but the variable remains whether further candidate unifications will occur. Following the unification of Chung Sye-kyun and Lee Kwang-jae, attention now focuses on the formation of a ‘Lee Nak-yeon?Chung Sye-kyun’ alliance.

The two candidates held a luncheon meeting on the 3rd and shared a common goal of regime continuation. In the Democratic Party’s first TV debate on the 4th, they jointly attacked Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung.

Democratic Party candidates are expected to continue their joint attacks in the second TV debate held that evening, as well as in the remaining two debates on the 6th and 8th.

The Democratic Party will announce the results of the preliminary primary (cutoff) on the 11th, which will narrow the field to six candidates.

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