Ahn Cheol-soo: "'Lee Jae-myung's 555 Pledge' Is a Knockoff"... 'Similar Yet Different' Science Pledges of Ahn and Lee

'Science and Technology Deputy Prime Minister System' Also Proposed First by Ahn Cheol-soo
Lee Jae-myung "Moon Exploration", Ahn Cheol-soo "Regulatory Reform"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party who advocates himself as the ‘President of Science and Technology,’ claimed that Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, copied his ‘555 Growth Pledge.’

On the 12th, during a lecture titled ‘Science and Technology-Centered National Strategy Toward G5’ held at a hotel in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, Ahn said, “The 555 Growth Strategy was what I announced last November.” This was Ahn’s first presidential pledge, envisioning securing five major super-gap technologies and fostering five global leading companies to enter the G5 economic powerhouse club. The day before, Lee announced a similarly named ‘555 Growth Pledge,’ which also included plans for the science and technology sector.

In the lecture, Ahn presented four comprehensive plans to make South Korea a ‘science and technology-centered country’: government organization reform, improvement of science and technology investment methods, talent development, and deregulation. He proposed introducing a ‘Science and Technology Deputy Prime Minister’ and appointing a Chief Secretary for Science and Technology at the Blue House to enable science-centered administration. He also stated that for government-supported research projects, the audit system should shift from ‘result-centered’ to ‘process-centered’ to enhance competitiveness. He advocated increasing the number of researchers in public and private research institutes from 500,000 to 1,000,000 and changing the government’s technology regulation approach from ‘positive’ to ‘negative.’

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee also emphasizes ‘Science and Technology Innovation Strategy’ as one of his growth pledges, presenting tasks such as talent cultivation, investment, and securing super-gap technologies, which partially overlap with Ahn’s presidential strategy. In particular, Ahn’s Science and Technology Deputy Prime Minister is similar to Lee’s ‘Science and Technology Innovation Deputy Prime Minister,’ announced last December as one of the ‘Seven Major Science and Technology Pledges.’ However, this was also part of Ahn’s 555 Growth Strategy announced a month earlier in November. The difference lies in Lee setting a goal to complete a ‘Moon Landing Project,’ while Ahn emphasizes ‘Science and Technology Regulatory Reform.’

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