'Tighten Until the End'... Ruling and Opposition Presidential Candidates' Final Push to Win Youth Votes

"From Housing First"... Lee, Yoon, Shim, and Ahn Jointly Announce Housing Stability Pledges
Also Proposals to Raise Soldier Salaries and Reform Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to Attract Young Male Voters

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Presidential candidates are rushing to announce pledges related to housing, youth savings accounts, and support funds to capture the votes of the 2030 generation, who have rapidly emerged as swing voters.

According to the Democratic Party on the 2nd, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate, plans to hold a women's safety pledge announcement and related campaign in front of Bosingak in Jongno, Seoul on the 3rd, appealing for the support of women in their 20s and 30s. Following Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party candidate's remark that "there is no structural gender discrimination," Lee is leading Yoon by more than 5% in approval ratings among women in their 20s, and is expanding his appeal to women voters in their 20s and 30s. Meanwhile, Yoon held focused campaigns targeting the 2030 generation at Lee's alma mater, Chung-Ang University, and at Hyundai Department Store Sinchon U-Plex in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, appealing for votes and support from the 2030 generation.

However, the pledge that both ruling and opposition presidential candidates are putting the most effort into is housing stability. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate, plans to prioritize 30% of new housing supply for youth and ease the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio regulation to 90% for first-time homebuyers including youth. Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party candidate, pledged to supply 300,000 youth cost-price houses and ease the LTV regulation to 80% for first-time homebuyers. He also promised to provide low-interest loans of 2-3% for three years up to 400 million KRW for newlyweds. Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party candidate, announced interest-free loans for jeonse deposits, and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate, pledged to supply 500,000 half-price land lease safe houses. Additionally, cash support policies and various savings plans were announced in quick succession, including youth basic income of 1 million KRW annually for those aged 19-29 (Lee), youth leap guarantee payments of 500,000 KRW monthly for up to 8 months for vulnerable youth (Yoon), and a basic asset payment of 30 million KRW for 20-year-olds (Sim).

In this presidential election, candidates are also making a last-ditch effort to attract votes from young men in their 20s (I-dae-nam), whose political demands have grown. Regarding the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which faces strong criticism from this group, Yoon has promised to abolish it, while Lee and Ahn have pledged to reorganize it into the Ministry of Equal Families. Competition is also fierce regarding soldier welfare. On the day before March 1st, Lee reiterated eight major pledges for soldier welfare aimed at building a smart strong military on social media. These pledges mainly include raising soldiers' monthly pay to 2 million KRW and shortening reserve forces training periods with a 200,000 KRW training compensation, which are seen as tailored pledges for men in their 20s. Yoon’s pledge announced in January also focuses on raising soldiers' monthly pay to 2 million KRW, expanding remote lectures and university credit recognition for soldiers, recognizing military service experience, and extending the period of national pension enrollment during service.

Experts welcome the candidates’ awareness of the issues but caution that, with the election imminent, the lack of concrete funding plans and methods could render these pledges populist. Professor Shim Kyo-eon of Konkuk University’s Department of Real Estate said regarding housing supply policies, "Candidates have proposed pledges requiring tens of trillions of won in funding, but since the funding plans are unclear, these could be seen as populism. Regardless of who wins, it seems necessary to prepare and announce related plans immediately after the election and obtain public consent."

Regarding soldier welfare pledges, Shin Jong-woo, a senior research fellow at the Defense and Security Forum, said, "Raising soldiers' pay and welfare benefits during mandatory service is an encouraging pledge from the perspective of military human rights, but if there is no clear plan on how to secure funding, it will be nothing more than empty promises."

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