"Change the Spoon Class and Unequal Society to Create an Equal Starting Line"
[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party's presidential candidate, criticized Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate, on the 31st for his pledge to revive the judicial examination, saying, "It is a typical populism aimed at winning votes and cannot be considered a sincere pledge," and added, "Reversing the abolition of the judicial exam, which was a core part of the Roh Moo-hyun administration's judicial reform, is self-contradictory."
Regarding Lee's 'Three Major Fairness Policies for Youth' (revival of the judicial exam, expansion of regular admissions, fair recruitment), Sim said, "Lee seems to think that reviving the 1980s, when he entered university and passed the judicial exam, will bring a fair world back to the youth, but this is a huge misconception," and pointed out, "Blaming the current legal recruitment or admission systems alone for the narrowing opportunities for today's youth is anachronistic and dangerous."
He explained, "The problem lies in an unequal society and hereditary capitalism that have solidified generations into 'dirt spoon' and 'gold spoon' classes, rather than in the examination or education systems," and added, "The upper-income class uses overwhelming private education resources, whether through the law school system, judicial exam system, regular admissions, or early admissions, to advantage their children in university entrance, employment, and social mobility."
He emphasized, "Changing the spoon-class society and unequal society to create as equal a starting line as possible for the youth, and building a society where social status and income gaps are not large regardless of career path, is a much more urgent and necessary task than repeatedly overhauling the examination system."
Sim also stated, "Now that the era of 'rising from the bottom' is over, no matter how much we open the path to becoming a legal professional without academic restrictions, we cannot go back to the past," and argued, "The enormous costs and time that judicial exam candidates would have to invest could even exceed those of law school."
He continued, "The numerous social costs of confusion that could arise from running law schools and the judicial exam in parallel are also problematic," and criticized, "Lee Jae-myung, who claims to inherit the Roh Moo-hyun administration, is self-contradictory in reversing the abolition of the judicial exam, which was a core part of Roh's judicial reform."
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