On New Year's Day, Lee and Yoon Visit the 'Hanggu' Port... Schedule Overlaps with 'Hyeonchungwon' Memorial Ceremony

In Year-End Messages, Lee Chooses 'Minsheng' and Yoon Picks 'Regime Change'

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party presidential candidate, attended the Local Autonomy Awards and Korea Regional Development Awards ceremony hosted by the Korea Local Newspaper Association at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 27th, where they exchanged greetings. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporters Kum Boryeong and Jeon Jinyoung] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party presidential candidate, both plan to visit a 'port' on the first day of the new year. Lee will visit Busan New Port, while Yoon will go to Incheon New Port. The two candidates also plan to pay respects at the National Seoul Memorial Cemetery at the same time on the 1st of next month, raising the possibility of an encounter on site.

On New Year's Day morning, Lee will attend a sunrise event in Seoul and then head to the Memorial Cemetery at 9 a.m. In the afternoon, he will visit Busan New Port and Tongdosa Temple in Yangsan. At Busan New Port, he plans to pray for the safe navigation of crew members on the first departing national deep-sea vessels.

Yoon will welcome the moment of January 1st at the container unloading site of Incheon New Port. This schedule is to encourage port workers on early shifts. He will then visit the Memorial Cemetery at the same time as Lee.

Coincidentally, the schedules and times of the two candidates overlap, but they are expected to pay respects with a slight time difference out of consideration for each other. Kwon Hyuk-ki, Deputy Director of the Democratic Party's Public Relations Team, said, "Whether the elder goes first or the younger, since we are a country of courtesy, they probably don't need to worry much." This means that even if the elder candidate Yoon pays respects first, it is not an issue. Kim Eun-hye, Director of the People Power Party's Public Relations Team, also said, "I think both sides will coordinate appropriately with about a 10-minute interval."

Meanwhile, on the last day of this year, the 31st, Lee visited a COVID-19 dedicated hospital to discuss plans for expanding hospital beds. Yoon attended the 110th anniversary celebration of Sangwolwon Gak Daejosa's birth at Guinsa Temple in Danyang, Chungbuk, expanding rapport with Buddhist followers.

For their year-end messages, Lee chose 'livelihood,' while Yoon chose 'regime change.' Lee wrote on Facebook, "The reason I do politics is 'only livelihood.' I will never forget these four words." Yoon also wrote on Facebook, "On March 9, 2022, we will make regime change a reality and bring about change with the new government."

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