2017 Presidential Election
2017 Presidential Election
  • Reporter Park Geun-woo
  • 승인 2017.05.03 17:13
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This year, Korea’s 19th Presidential Election will be held during spring, on May. 9. The event itself is unprecedented in Korea ever since the direct election system became the standard in Korean democracy in 1987. Such an instance has been caused by the impeachment of the former president Park Geun-hye after the long term of turmoil in the nation. Currently, Hwang Kyo-ahn is at the helm of the office as incumbent president.
Until now, the presidential election campaign in Korea has been composed of one-to-one battle between the conservative party and the progressive party. But now, removal of Park Geun-hye has brought a wind of change to the election ground. By the impeachment of the president, not only the established conservative-to-progressive clashing composition, but the past region-based inclinations have been dismantled. From this, it can be inferred that in the 2017 presidential election, there will be unparalleled changes on the state of affairs. 
On Apr. 15, a total of 15 presidential candidates, which broke the record of applications registered, completed the registrations including the big 5: Moon Jae-in (Democratic Party), Hong Jun-pyo (Liberty Korea Party),  Ahn Cheol-soo (People’s Party), Yoo Seong-min (Bareun Party), Sim Sang-jeong (Justice Party). The slogans for each of the candidates are as follows: “A country how a country should be” (Candidate Moon), “A confident working-class president” (Candidate. Hong), “People win” (Candidate Ahn), “A new hope of the Conservative” (Candidate Yoo), “A country where working is dignified” (Candidate Sim). The official election campaigns took off on Apr. 17, and will go on for 22 days until May. 9. At seven in the morning on Apr. 17, the candidates showed off their logo-songs and started putting campaign trucks on the road.
This year, Korean citizens have less time to fully check on the candidates. To resolve this situation, national broadcasting systems have held several invitational debates, made break-up videos and articles about each candidates’ pledges, and even made sites to help individuals look for their ideal candidate.