[Full Text] Lee Jung-mi Announces Presidential Bid: "I Will Break the Dominance of the Two Establishment Parties"

Former Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi announced her candidacy for next year's presidential election on the 23rd. Lee stated, "I want to take the baton away from the entrenched powers who refuse to budge for their current interests and hand it over to the younger generation," declaring her run for the next presidential election.

Below is the full text of the presidential candidacy declaration.

Respected citizens, beloved party members,

Today, I declare my candidacy for the 20th presidential election.

The real estate policies proposed by the real estate tycoons

have repeatedly failed as if mocking the people.

The unrealistic rhetoric of 'let's work 120 hours a week'

has become a reason to seize the next administration.

However, while the primaries of the two major parties have descended into ugly negativity,

and candidates keep scoring own goals,

the Justice Party is still not seen as a key player on the field.

This is because the Justice Party has not fulfilled its role.

It was trapped in the camp logic of progressive reform,

failing to uphold principles and wavering.

The excuse of survival choices

has instead turned into a survival crisis.

Now, we must thoroughly break away from the wavering past.

The Justice Party will be reborn with the desperate resolve that if it collapses,

the lives of the socially vulnerable will also collapse.

I declare the severance from the 'Progressive Reform Coalition' of the past decade.

Progressive politics, trapped in the grammar of established politics,

has lost imagination and vision,

and received harsh judgment from the people in the 20th general election.

Yet, the urgency of the times

still calls for the role of progressive politics.

It is not the last chapter of the progressive politics we have built,

but an order to draw a new future for the Republic of Korea.

The great transformation of Korean society

is possible only on the foundation of innovation and change in progressive politics.

I will definitely create a new progressive politics,

a drama of innovation and change, together with the Justice Party members.

Established politics that cannot even sense the changes of the times,

and entrenched powers who refuse to budge for current interests despite sensing the change,

I want to take the baton from them

and hand it over to the younger generation.

A world where you can live without straining yourself,

a life where you don't have to give up something for your dreams,

a society where you can feel safe even if you fail,

I will build a country beside those who desperately long for these.

The fortress of winner-takes-all hereditary capitalism remains intact,

and politics that fights by merely changing the owners in a life-or-death struggle,

where people's lives are neglected,

and politics that only seeks to score points by relying on the opponent's mistakes,

politics of hatred that intimidates the people solely with camp logic of regime re-creation or regime change,

must exit the stage.

I and the Justice Party will break away from the familiar past

and move toward a new world of politics.

I declare the end of the 'Progressive Reform Coalition' that began in the 2010 local elections.

I will return to the original intention of changing the game of entrenched two-party politics.

I will no longer say that I will lead or support the Democratic Party's reform.

Justice Party presidential candidate Lee Jeong-mi will create a new decade for the Republic of Korea

in the Justice Party's own way.

We must become a leading country that provides answers to global problems.

Respected citizens, beloved party members,

Cultural anthropologist Professor Jared Diamond said,

"COVID-19 is a powerful teacher that has given us homework to find global answers."

The recent fourth wave of the pandemic, which has not subsided,

tells us that neither masks nor vaccines are complete answers,

whipping us to action.

Global answers,

yes.

A massive change that no one has ever experienced

is surging like a high tide.

No country has yet devised a leading solution.

The Republic of Korea, now a member of the advanced countries,

must take the lead in providing answers

and extend a hand to solve these problems together.

Citizens,

we tightened our belts together during the industrialization era,

and fought together against authoritarian dictatorship during democratization.

Our people have run fearlessly toward a better Korea with a common goal.

However, the era of market power thrown into the jungle of survival of the fittest

has lost its way.

No matter how much the country boasts dazzling growth,

that is a 'society without me.'

I and the Justice Party will set the goals of the era

to find 'me' and 'us' together with the citizens.

Solidarity to solve climate change and resource depletion,

expansion of political, economic, and social investments for more equality,

a transition to a society where no one is left behind,

where we care for and look after each other,

restoring the 'interdependence' that has supported our lives,

we will build that path together.

I will become a 'care president' who opens the era of the 'care revolution.'

I will build a country that fights against the climate crisis with 'ecological care.'

Citizens,

I will open the era of 'ecological care' by amending Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.

In Article 1 of the Constitution,

I will declare 'a country that fights all climate crises for the sustainable lives of the sovereign people.'

Even in the face of the lessons of COVID-19,

we must stop fake politics that only shout 'growth.'

No longer can GDP numbers and growth rates

be the national policy goals of the Republic of Korea.

This summer, due to abnormal weather worldwide, people say,

"In the 20th century, we worried about starving to death,

but in the 21st century, we worry about burning to death.

Can we really grow old safely?"

1.5 degrees,

the urgent number that gives us less than a decade.

The next president's term, half of that decade,

within those five years, I will become a 'climate president' who finds solutions to the crisis.

There must be no winners and losers in the process of transition responding to climate change.

Fighting the climate crisis

is a fight against 'forces that profit from the climate crisis.'

Those sensitive to profit monopolization

may be calculating how much future profits will rise

as the Earth's temperature rises.

However, workers who inevitably decline during industrial transition,

and workers at coal-fired power plants being shut down,

are driven into fear by an uncertain future.

Half-hearted transition is half-hearted justice.

I and the Justice Party will prepare a just transition

so that no working person is left behind.

I will open the era of 'labor care,' a democracy for excluded labor citizens.

Respected citizens,

In 2017, the Justice Party declared 'a country where labor is dignified.'

Who is that labor in 2021?

6.8 million excluded workers outside the constitution and laws,

the emergence of new labor citizens has long been a reality.

They exist at the very bottom of the market,

subject to barbaric free contracts without minimum standards,

bearing everything individually.

Relying on a smartphone,

controlled by algorithms where human faces have disappeared,

those who must endure day by day,

are they workers or not?

Working citizens outside of wage labor,

self-employed people pushed into lives worse than subcontracted irregular workers,

are they bosses or workers?

The expansion of the platform market and free contract market

has destroyed the concept of 20th-century labor.

Just tweaking a few labor laws and adding some labor standards

cannot prepare us for the next era.

Whether one belongs to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions or not

sounds like a story from a distant country to these people.

Those outside the fence of regular and irregular worker conflicts.

Those who have no rights anywhere in the constitution or laws.

We cannot narrowly confine them to the existing meaning of labor.

I and the Justice Party will expand the meaning of labor.

We will ensure that universal rights given to all working people

are not violated.

The most future-oriented social contract that cares for the rights of labor citizens through democracy,

the Justice Party of the Republic of Korea will open that first era.

I will open the era of the 'care revolution' that transcends neoliberalism and the welfare state.

Citizens,

Humans have developed over a long history

by forming relationships and depending on each other

to overcome their vulnerabilities.

However, the past 50 years

of rapid industrialization and democratization have resulted in

the breakdown of relationships, isolation, and loneliness.

We have long lost the will and ability

to protect the rights of individual citizens.

A society where there is no one to help,

a society where there is no one to hold your hand in times of difficulty,

that is the Republic of Korea, which has the highest suicide rate.

The neoliberal era, where everything is thrown into infinite competition,

and the COVID-19 crisis that blew in,

paradoxically make us realize the importance of 'care' again.

The 'social distancing' that protected us from the threat of COVID-19

was possible because of the care labor called essential labor.

We cannot overcome this crisis by relying solely on the moving responsibility and dedication of essential workers.

Care workers in COVID-19 medical institutions are collapsing.

With the resurgence of COVID-19, care for housework and childcare

is again directed toward women within families.

Why must care that transforms loneliness into a hopeful life,

and care that watches over the life and safety of the elderly and vulnerable,

be pushed to the lowest tier of the labor market?

For the care revolution,

we must first eradicate care injustice.

We must re-evaluate the value of all care labor.

The care revolution

is about protecting the dignity of all people who provide and perform care.

The spirit of equal interdependence

is the justice of a caring society.

The welfare state system that supported the shadow of capitalist society in the 20th century,

however, based on cold numbers and statistics,

and limited to cash and in-kind provision,

misses people and communities.

Whether it is 200,000 won or 250,000 won,

the universal selective welfare debate detached from reality

has long been powerless in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.

In front of the voices of people who are struggling because their monthly income has stopped immediately,

let us end policies without empathy.

The bureaucratic system

must be supplemented by warm local communities and resident autonomy.

When local community citizens participate in caring for neighbors and the environment,

a new income system will be established

where appropriate compensation is given.

I call this

the 7th income, 'participation income,'

following labor, business, interest, dividends, retirement, and other incomes.

What the people want is not just increasing the number of jobs,

nor jobs that must be endured to make a living.

Working citizens themselves will move toward a society

where they have identity and pride in their work

and are guaranteed stable income.

A country where no one is discriminated against,

I will become the Republic of Korea's first feminist president.

Citizens,

I know well the sense of betrayal experienced by women during the era of President Moon Jae-in,

who declared himself a 'feminist president.'

What Korean women demand from the government is just one thing:

a country where they can live safely.

No system for gender equality

can replace the social atmosphere created by leaders.

Above all, I will be the Republic of Korea's first feminist president

who shows the highest ruler's will not to compromise

with social hatred, discrimination, and violence.

One anti-discrimination law alone cannot change the world,

but a world without anti-discrimination law must end.

I will end hypocritical politics hiding behind the guise of social consensus.

I will lead the change of the times

and become a president who removes all discrimination.

I will abolish the presidential system

to overcome old confrontational politics and achieve cooperation.

Respected citizens,

Justice Party presidential candidate Lee Jeong-mi

will be the president who abolishes the presidential system.

Resolving inequality, the climate crisis, and discrimination

requires the will to create a sustainable society.

We have seen countless presidents

who reign but do not govern, like constitutional monarchs,

spending powerless final terms.

This government, built on the massive candlelight square,

has also failed to fundamentally change our lives.

Even when the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General conflicted,

when the Deputy Prime Minister and ruling party fought over disaster relief funds,

and even in front of chaebols who committed crimes,

the president remained silent.

Turning a blind eye to political conflicts and avoiding responsibility

has become a way to maintain approval ratings.

The repetition of the 'old republic' centered on two parties

is because of the desperate old power system called the presidential system.

A new political culture where diverse political forces coexist, debate, and reach consensus

is an urgent task that can no longer be postponed.

Coalition politics is not about dividing a few seats to the winner after a boring unification fight.

We must not talk about cooperation while refusing changes in institutions and systems.

Institutionalizing multi-party systems and cooperation,

I will realize this by abolishing the presidential system

and adopting a parliamentary system.

I will turn the political clock stopped in 1987 toward the future.

Respected citizens, beloved party members,

Do not despair that only a rough future lies ahead.

I and the Justice Party

have the will to fight this unjust world.

During my time as a member of the National Assembly,

I recall the eyes of people who cautiously knocked on my office door.

Because I know the many doors of power that did not open before they came to the Justice Party.

I listened to each and every one of their stories.

Until their desperate lives are resolved,

I fought together and made laws.

This presidential challenge of mine

is a path to step closer to them.

The path to power that I have never given up on,

a country where citizens breathe freely in a government made by the Justice Party,

today, I dream of it.

Let us move forward together toward that dream.

Thank you.

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