Paying Respects at the Graves of Syngman Rhee and Park Chung Hee
Visiting the SK Hynix Icheon Campus
Making Every Effort to Break Through the Boxed-in Approval Rating
Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, began aggressively reaching out to centrist voters from his very first day as the party’s official candidate following the completion of the party’s primary race. Although he has maintained an unchallenged lead in various opinion polls, his approval rating has stagnated in the 30 percent range, a phenomenon often referred to as the "boxed-in approval rating." He is now seeking to break through this ceiling.
Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, is paying respects with the party leadership at the Memorial Tower of the National Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, on the 28th.
On the morning of the 28th, Lee visited the National Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, and paid respects at the graves of former presidents, marking his first official activity as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. He paid homage not only at the grave of former President Kim Dae Jung, but also at the graves of former Presidents Syngman Rhee and Park Chung Hee, who are figures revered by the conservative bloc. This move is interpreted as an effort to appeal to conservative voters, extending his outreach beyond the political center.
In his acceptance speech immediately after being nominated as the candidate the previous day, Lee declared himself "the candidate for all citizens" and pledged, "I will fully fulfill the president’s foremost responsibility of national unity." In this speech, the word "unity" was mentioned as many as fourteen times.
Later, Lee visited the SK Hynix Icheon Campus in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, to attend an "AI (Artificial Intelligence) Memory Semiconductor Roundtable." He emphasized, "It is time to set aside ideology and focus solely on people’s livelihoods, economic well-being, and how to improve quality of life," highlighting the "Moksanism" and "Jalsanism" philosophies he has consistently promoted.
After the roundtable, Lee told reporters, "The Korean economy is facing great difficulties, and so are people’s livelihoods," adding, "To improve people’s lives, the economy must ultimately be revitalized, and it is clear that companies are the main drivers of this." Some observers interpreted this as a willingness to embrace "pro-business" policies, which have traditionally been considered the domain of the conservative bloc, if necessary.
Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Kwak No Jung, CEO of SK Hynix (left), and Song Hyun Jong, Corporate President of SK Hynix (right), are taking a commemorative photo on the afternoon of the 28th at SK Hynix Icheon Campus in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, before the 'K-Semiconductor' AI memory semiconductor company meeting.
On this day, through his social networking service (SNS), Lee announced, "We will support semiconductor companies by applying a production tax credit of up to 10 percent for semiconductors produced and sold domestically."
He also promised to expedite the enactment of the Special Semiconductor Act. The production tax credit is a system that deducts a portion of the taxes owed on semiconductor products produced and sold in Korea, directly supporting companies’ productivity and sales performance.
An industry official commented, "While many of the pledges are largely declarative and it remains to be seen whether they will be implemented, the production tax credit is a policy expected to have a tangible effect," adding, "It will clearly increase incentives for companies to expand production and investment."
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