South Korea’s Presidential Candidates Clash in First Debate
Nothing surprising appears to have come out of the first Korean Presidential debate; Lee Jae-myung thinks orange man is bad and Korea shouldn’t be in a hurry to make a trade deal while Kim Moon-soo says holding an immediate summit with Trump would be a top priority:
The specter of trade negotiations with the United States under President Donald Trump loomed large Sunday night as Korea’s presidential hopefuls offered sharply divergent strategies during their inaugural televised debate.
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) candidate, advocated for a measured, interest-driven path in dealing with Washington, while Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party championed a rapid, trust-based summit approach.
Lee said there was “no need to rush” into an agreement.
“The foremost principle in trade negotiations is to prioritize the national interest,” he said. “We shouldn’t feel compelled to concede just because the United States makes demands.”
He stressed the value of strategic patience, pointing to Japan and China as examples of countries that have successfully employed this approach.
“Japan, which initially demanded early negotiations, has taken a step back. China also set strong conditions before ultimately adjusting its position. We need to navigate this wisely, too,” he said.
Lee added that Korea should seize the moment to pivot away from export dependency and steadily increase domestic demand.
You can read more at the link.
Whoops, I shared my thoughts on this in the other thread. Didn’t realize your post was coming up so soon. I’ll re-comment here if that’s ok! 🙂
The key takeaway for me was Lee Jun Seok stood out a lot to me. He knew everything he wanted to say and backed everything up, while also debating really well. He also crushed Lee Jae Myung (as expected) and made him look really tiny.
Lee Jae Myung is really a problem. He makes all these bold claims and can’t back any single one of them with rationale or how to go about it. He just makes conclusions without arguing for it and that is why he’s just called a populist. Lee Jun Seok really shed light on this about Lee Jae Myung, which was really refreshing. Lee Jae Myung would fight back and say that Lee Jun Seok is looking at it too simply or that he’s looking at things too extremely. But, Lee Jun Seok’s counter to that is that he’s simply regurgitating Lee Jae Myung’s own statements word for word. It’s ironic because Lee Jae Myung himself is making the claims in the extreme or too simply. He’s a complete fraud.
See for yourself.
https://youtu.be/_bGpvQJjqLs?si=Hye8EwSge2aUPF64
Oh and we all know Lee Jae Myung’s motive for wanting to hold off on U.S. talks. It’s so that we don’t upset NK or the CCP. It’s blatantly obvious. His wording is just to convince idiots.
It’s blatantly obvious to you because you’re a Yoonie, a Korean Maggot wannabe, that cannot be part of the exclusive club of Trumpies.
No country is eager to talk to an unhinged Oranged person who cannot stick to any deals that he has made in the past and present. It was Donald Trump in 2018 who signed the FTA with South Korea, after he broke the same treaty that was signed in 2008. Signing yet another deal with him isn’t going to help Korea one bit.
Name one country other than SK (under the current right-wing Yoon party) that rushed to deal with this lunatic? Even Japan wised up lately when they realized that they can’t negotiate with a side that doesn’t even know what they want or are demanding (other than ordering countries to move all their industries and jobs to the US).
Canada, the EU, and even China, all let the US sweat it out, knowing full well what the consequences of their tariffs on the entire world will ensue. This is not even rocket science, to wait this out, until the unreasonable side collapses from within. The stupidity of the Korean right to eager to please the Orange administration is what is wrong with Korea right now.