Lee Jae-myung: "Woke Up to Find a Backward Country... I Will Protect the People's Pride"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 25th that a recent public opinion poll showing a significant decline in 'national pride' this year proves the popular phrase "woke up to find ourselves a developing country" to be a reality.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the same day, Lee wrote on Facebook, "No matter how high a country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is or how strong its military power may be, can it confidently claim to be an advanced country if its people are not proud to be citizens of that country?"

He added, "The pride of our people is rapidly collapsing. The people remain the same, but where has the 'model democracy' that once led the world disappeared to?" and said, "This is the responsibility of politics that has neglected the lives of the people."

He continued, "Even though people's livelihoods have been pushed to the brink, politics has disappeared into political strife instead of focusing on the people's welfare," and added, "It is hard to raise my head in the face of the harsh criticism from the people that politics has failed to provide hope."

He then stated, "If the Democratic Party had been more competent and more trusted by the people, no matter how incompetent the government was, the people would not have given up their pride," adding, "The Democratic Party will protect the people's pride through restoring livelihoods and politics."

The poll Lee cited was conducted by Korea Research from September 22 to 25, surveying 1,000 men and women aged 18 and over nationwide. The survey found that 58% responded that they are proud to be citizens of the Republic of Korea. This is an 18 percentage point drop from 76% in February 2022, near the end of the Moon Jae-in administration. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The survey was conducted online (with URLs sent via mobile text messages and emails).