Small Loans, Medical Welfare, Drunk Driving Penalties... Presidential Candidates' New Livelihood Pledges

Lee Jae-myung Considers Expanding 'Geukjeo Credit Loan Project'
Yoon Seok-yeol Promises to Establish 'Allergy Patient Medical Information Sharing System'
Ahn Cheol-soo Proposes Complete Abolition of 'Drunkenness Sentence Reduction'

Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung (from the right), People's Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, and People Power Party candidate Yoon Seok-youl attended the New Year's greeting event for Daegu-Gyeongbuk residents in finance held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 17th of last month and posed for a commemorative photo. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] After the '4-person TV debate,' the presidential candidates continued their livelihood campaigns along with their policy announcements.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced the 'Myeonghwakhaeng (Lee Jae-myung's Certain Happiness)' policy related to ultra-low credit loans on his Facebook on the 4th. Myeonghwakhaeng is a series of pledges introducing policies he implemented when he was the governor of Gyeonggi Province.

Candidate Lee stated, "We will consider ways to expand the ultra-low credit loan project that was implemented in Gyeonggi Province," emphasizing, "Although it is a path no one has taken, if it is to protect people's livelihoods, we must pave a path where none exists." The ultra-low credit loan project conducted in Gyeonggi Province allows residents with low credit to use a public-supported and guaranteed loan product with an interest rate in the 1% range, up to 3 million KRW, for a maximum of 5 years.

Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, also announced through 'Seokyul's Heart-throbbing Promise' on the same day that he would "establish a medical information sharing system for allergy patients." The plan is to create a nationwide network that shares medical questionnaires and data among local small and private hospitals, general hospital emergency rooms, and 119 emergency medical services with the consent of allergy patients. This takes into account the fact that allergies are diverse and difficult to classify, and symptoms vary by patient, making standardized detection and diagnosis challenging. Additionally, under the '59-second Shorts' pledge, he proposed "government prepayment of child support for victims of Bad Fathers to guarantee their livelihood" and "mandatory voluntary feedback for final interviewees to promote consideration and development for recruiting organizations and job seekers." 'Bad Fathers' refers to fathers (or mothers) who maliciously do not pay court-ordered child support, and the government plans to pay the victims first and then recover the amount from the Bad Fathers.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, pledged the "complete abolition of intoxication mitigation." This means no longer giving leniency when crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol. Candidate Ahn explained, "While drunk driving is severely punished, giving mitigation for crimes committed under the influence of alcohol is contradictory," adding, "Granting leniency simply because the offender was intoxicated is unfair and, rather, heavier responsibility should be imposed to encourage caution in behavior after drinking." Although some argue the principle of criminal responsibility in criminal law states that a crime cannot be established without responsibility, Candidate Ahn drew a line by calling this an "excessive interpretation."

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