[Lee Jae-myung Leadership] From Inside to Outside... The Politics of 'Integration' Pulled Until the Final Moment

Practicality Over Politics... Uncertainty Remains on the Realization of a Unified Government

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, has drawn attention for his leadership through his unification efforts. Along with his image as an "economic president," his efforts to embrace not only the centrist voters but also veto groups have shown some results, becoming a political asset for candidate Lee. Although he has not fully united with pro-Moon Jae-in supporters and others, after the party primary, he successfully recruited former party leader Lee Nak-yeon as the general election campaign committee chairman and, as part of his big-tent approach to establishing a multi-party system, succeeded in bringing in Kim Dong-yeon, the leader of the New Wave party.

◆Spirit of Unification, Politics of Unification= Candidate Lee's leadership gained attention when he announced a "pragmatic unified government" that includes various political forces in the next administration. He reached out not only to candidates with similar colors like Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party and Kim Dong-yeon of New Wave but also to Cho Won-jin of Our Republican Party, who is classified as far-right. Although it did not materialize, political commentators acknowledged the effort as commendable.

Lee's unified government plan centers on institutionalizing coalition government and cooperation. To realize a multi-party system, it also includes electoral reforms such as the introduction of a mixed-member proportional representation system before the presidential inauguration, abolition of parliamentary immunity, introduction of a national recall system, and prohibition of more than three consecutive terms for lawmakers. Kim Dong-yeon responded positively and agreed to participate as a partner in state affairs if Lee wins the presidential election.

However, a limitation emerged as no other candidates joined the unified government proposal besides Kim Dong-yeon after Lee advocated it. Moreover, the scope of unified politics narrowed significantly as Ahn Cheol-soo, the candidate of the People’s Party, who Lee and the party had invested efforts in, entered into a unification with Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party.

Kim Jin-wook, spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s election campaign committee, said, "The agreements with Kim Dong-yeon and the proposal for national unification to Cho Won-jin shown by candidate Lee during the election process all stem from leadership of unification, which became an opportunity to send a message of new politics to the centrist and floating voters." He added, "Within the party, there is great significance in the fact that the presidential candidate of the ruling party with over 170 seats is directly stepping forward to relinquish vested interests."

Professor Choi Chang-ryeol of Yongin University evaluated Lee’s leadership, saying, "It is true that the value of unification advocated by candidate Lee served as a basis for healing internal party divisions and conflicts during the primary process." However, Professor Choi also noted, "The unified government proposed by Lee has limitations within the current political structure, so it remains a task for him to continue embracing and reflecting on the value of unification even after the presidential election."

◆Hands-on Leadership= Candidate Lee describes himself as a "pragmatist who believes a flexible and practical mindset that transcends left-right and progressive-conservative divides is necessary." His flexible attitude and inclusiveness are another element of his leadership. In his new economic vision, so-called ‘Lee Jae-nomics’ (Lee Jae-myung + Economics), he referenced former President Park Chung-hee’s industrial highways and former President Kim Dae-jung’s internet highways, hinting at a direction beyond ideology and factionalism.

In particular, regarding real estate policies, which became a failure of the Moon Jae-in administration, Lee shifted significantly from a regulation-only approach to expanding supply and promised substantial easing of the fortress-like reconstruction regulations, showing his determination not to be bound by the Democratic Party’s past stance.

The public responded quickly to his pragmatic pledges based on the spirit of unification. Although Lee trailed candidate Yoon in polls conducted this year, he consistently led in favorability based on policy pledges. In a survey by the polling agency People Networks Research (PNR) earlier this year, when asked, "If you judge only by the presidential candidates’ pledges, whose pledges do you like the most?" Lee received 39.6% support, while Yoon received 32%.

Those who know him well also describe him as a ‘hands-on’ leader in administration. At the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, when a large-scale infection occurred in the religious group Shincheonji and there was hesitation to disclose the list of followers, Lee personally visited the Shincheonji training center in Gapyeong, where the leader was located. Recently, during his campaign, Lee emphasized, "Using the meager quarantine authority of a provincial governor, I raided the Shincheonji headquarters to secure the list and shut down all facilities," adding, "I even personally went to the luxurious residence of leader Lee Man-hee to enforce testing."

Lee plans to focus even more on imprinting his image as an economic president aiming for a practical unified government until the very end. Woo Sang-ho, the general election campaign committee chief of the Democratic Party, explained, "In the remaining period, the Lee Jae-myung campaign will focus on differentiating the candidates and the candidate lineup," adding, "We will differentiate by contrasting capable versus incapable, prepared versus unprepared candidates, who can better handle the economy and people’s livelihood, and stable versus unstable candidates."

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