ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING

[Anchor Lead]

On the election front, two leading presidential candidates are pulling all their resources to boost their approval ratings with fewer than 30 days to go until the presidential election. Lee Jae-myung raised issues concerning disease control measures and people’s financial difficulties to play up his leadership skills during the crisis. While Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to promote science and technology and criticized the current administration’s anti-nuclear power policy while promising not to let politics sway national policies.

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In a meeting with small business owners’ groups, Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung urged the government to change the current disease control system because the COVID-19 situation has changed and a lockdown is economically more damaging than helpful.

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(DP Pres. Candidate) : "I’ve been urging the government to allow those who received the 3rd shots to stay open until midnight."

He met with a ruling party representative who was demanding a vast increase in supplementary budget and said that bureaucrats are mired in formality. While campaigning at a traditional market, he played up his crisis management leadership by promising 50 trillion won in immediate relief to merchants.

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(DP Pres. Candidate) : "I will become the commander-in-chief who overcomes the crisis."

He appointed former DP leader Lee Nak-yon as the chair of his election campaign committee in order to woo the DP supporters who are not favorable towards him. Lee also pledged to wipe out digital sex crimes after hearing how an online activist tracked down the infamous cyber sexual exploitation cases. Meanwhile, People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol promised to make a presidential committee on science and technology and allocate R&D funds first to solve such difficult issues as infectious diseases and carbon neutrality.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(PPP Pres. Candidate) : "We should become a leader rather than a chaser. We have to make history by meeting challenges and creating the world’s firsts, not by imitating."

He also criticized the current government’s anti-nuclear power policy by pledging to stop politicians from swaying national policies. Yoon, who has been blaming the current administration for the problems in many areas, said the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials must undergo an extensive reform.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(PPP Pres. Candidate(YouTube with Election Committee)) : "Look at what the CIO is doing. It’s working as this administration’s henchman and being unethical, because it is not competent."

On Wednesday, Yoon visited the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul Office and met with Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick.