대선주자 시리즈 #2 - 홍준표
It's time to turn the spotlight on each of the candidates running for the top office.
We are finding out who they are... and what pledges they're putting forward.
In the second installment of our series,... we focus on the nominee for the Liberty Korea Party, Gyeongsangnam-do Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo.
Take a look.
Hong Joon-pyo is the governor of Gyeongsangnam-do Province and was nominated last week as the presidential candidate for the conservative Liberty Korea Party... which was the former ruling Saenuri party under the embattled Park Geun-hye administration.
Hong was a prosecutor from the mid-80s to the mid-90s...
and jumped into politics in 1996 when he won election as a lawmaker with the New Korea Party,... another predecessor of Liberty Korea Party.
Hong has characterized the upcoming election... as a battle between the right and the left.
He's portrayed the left as fragile and weak,... and himself as a strong figure... who will revolutionize the country and institute a new order.
He has vowed to unite conservatives... and end the ideological and regional divisions in Korean politics.
Hong's hard-line approach to security and diplomacy... mirrors that of the ousted Park administration.
He says the U.S. missile defense system THAAD MUST BE deployed -- unless China uses its influence over North Korea.
Hong's view of the Kaesong Industrial Complex -- an inter-Korean project that was suspended in February last year -- is also similar to Park's.
He doesn't want operations to resume unless the North Korea issue is resolved.
Hong has also said he would take a nuclear-to-nuclear approach -- meaning, the South should have its own nuclear weapons to match the North's arsenal.
He says he'd be in favor of redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea.
Regarding the wartime sexual slavery agreement struck with Japan in 2015,... his position is that it should be nullified,... as such "crimes against humanity" cannot be subject to agreement.
On the economic front, Hong says the government's role should be limited to encouraging investment.
He says he will work to reduce the number of civil servants...
and that private companies should take the lead in creating jobs.
He is also seeking to expand childcare for children up to the age of five, with different amounts of financial support at five income levels.
Among the six leading presidential nominees -- five major party candidates and one independent -- Hong Joon-pyo is in third,... with 10-percent support.
Campaigning officially starts on April 17th... and the key for Hong will be to broaden his appeal to a greater cross-section of conservative voters.
He's expressed confidence... if his campaign were to merge with that of Yoo Seong-min -- the nominee from the splinter conservative Bareun Party -- he would easily beat the other three candidates.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
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