[Politics, That Day...] "Dear Citizens, Has Your Livelihood Improved?"

Memorable TV Debate Quotes from Past Presidential Elections: 2002 Kwon Young-gil, Democratic Labor Party Candidate
Clear and Concise Sentences Conveying Election Strategy and the Purpose of Progressive Parties

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min]

Editor's Note‘Politics, That Day...’ is a series planning corner that looks back on Korean politics through the ‘recollection of memories’ related to notable scenes, events, and figures that deserve attention.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

"Dear citizens, has your livelihood improved?" This is one of the most memorable quotes in the history of presidential election TV debates. The so-called ‘salrim-bari’ (livelihood) remark was made 19 years ago, ahead of the December 2002 presidential election.

The speaker was Kwon Young-gil, a politician representing the history of progressive parties. At that time, Kwon Young-gil, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Labor Party, worked hard to spread the values of progressive politics against Roh Moo-hyun of the Democratic Party and Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party.

The message Kwon Young-gil conveyed during the TV debate was as follows.

"Kwon Young-gil: Dear citizens, are you happy now? They say the IMF crisis has been overcome and the economy has greatly improved, but has your livelihood gotten better? Since ordinary people are crying out that they cannot make ends meet, government economic officials are telling us with incomprehensible numbers that the economy is doing well. This is exactly the desk-bound economy of conservative politics."

It was a message that offset the strong image of the progressive party with easy-to-understand language while sufficiently delivering the intended message.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

When a presidential candidate asks, "Has your livelihood improved?" what kind of answer can be given? Considering the harsh reality of daily life, it is psychologically difficult for people to readily say it has improved. If it makes people think about how their livelihood can improve and what a happier livelihood would be, the Democratic Labor Party has succeeded in delivering its message.

For the Democratic Party, which was the ruling party at the time, it was a truly awkward question. The 2002 presidential election held during President Kim Dae-jung’s administration was not an easy election for the Democratic Party. Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party was a figure who demonstrated the greatest political control of any conservative party in history.

Kwon Young-gil’s remark was a fundamental question about the Democratic Party government’s administration. It was asking what the Democratic Party government had done for the people who realized a peaceful regime change in the 1997 presidential election. Playing with numbers to promote economic achievements is unlikely to move the hearts of the people.

Political slogans like the era of tens of thousands of dollars in national income can sound like pie-in-the-sky talk to people who endure hardship every day. Politicians from both ruling and opposition parties preparing for the 2022 presidential election should reflect on Kwon Young-gil’s 2002 question, "Dear citizens, has your livelihood improved?"

This means they need to consider what solutions can improve the people’s livelihood and whether those solutions can win the hearts of the people. Will a candidate who can move the hearts of the people with just a few words, like Kwon Young-gil in 2002, emerge in the 2022 presidential election?