Lee Jun-seok, the presidential candidate from the Reform Party, said on the 16th, “I will integrate the office and the National Assembly building in Sejong City.” This is interpreted as an effort to appeal to voters in the Chungcheong region, which is considered a casting vote.
On this day in the afternoon, the candidate met with reporters at Dankook University in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, stating, “I will carry on Roh Moo-hyun's dream and Park Geun-hye's conviction to achieve the practical completion of the administrative capital.”
The candidate also stated, “As Daejeon's identity is that of a leading domestic science and technology research city, I will significantly improve the treatment of those in science and technology,” and added, “I will promote a metropolitan railway plan connecting Dongtan, my constituency, with Cheongju Airport.” He further revealed, “I will build a railway connecting the four metropolitan governments in the Chungcheong region and also extend Daejeon Urban Railway Line 1.”
Regarding the first TV debate scheduled for the 18th, the candidate noted, “I will point out the populism policies of Lee Jae-myung (Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate),” and criticized, “The pledge to transfer HMM to Busan is out of touch with the times.” The day before, Lee Jae-myung made the promise to move the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the shipping company HMM to Busan.
The candidate remarked, “Lee Jae-myung claims to protect corporations from unreasonable judgments by external forces through amendments to the Commercial Act, yet he intends to arbitrarily move the headquarters of corporations.”
He continued, “The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries oversees not only logistics but also marine safety and aspects of the fisheries industry,” and insisted, “When considering the interconnectivity with other regions, we must assess whether the transfer is necessarily correct.”
Furthermore, the candidate pointed out, “Lee Jae-myung pledged to establish a data center complex in Haenam, Jeollanam-do, but Haenam lacks undersea cables, making it disadvantageous for data transmission,” adding, “It seems he is reading a pledge written without understanding IT.”
The candidate promised to designate Busan as a data special zone and to expedite the approval process for establishing data centers, as data passing through undersea cables makes it advantageous from an infrastructure perspective.
The candidate stated regarding Kim Yong-tae, chairman of the People Power Party's emergency committee, “We used to contact each other at least once a week, but I haven't heard from him recently.” It has been reported that recently, the People Power Party has continuously communicated proposals for unification to the candidate to raise the approval ratings of Kim Moon-soo, their presidential candidate.