The Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential candidate, Lee Jae-myung, announced his policy pledge book “Now the True Republic of Korea.” On the 28th, the Election Committee’s policy headquarters published a press release revealing the policy pledge book for the 21st presidential election. Under the three major visions (recovery, growth, happiness) for building a “True Republic of Korea,” the party presented 15 key policy tasks and included 247 detailed pledges to implement them.
The pledge book mentions the expansion of the number of Supreme Court justices, a move that has been criticized as “judiciary tightening” linked to candidate Lee’s judiciary risks. Regarding prosecution reform, the Democratic Party stated its intent to “separate investigation and prosecution and secure the specialization of investigative agencies.” However, the pledge book did not outline specific methods for separating investigation and prosecution.
Furthermore, the Democratic Party pledged to “realize judicial control over the abuse of prosecutorial authority” and to expand the integration of legal professions, stating, “Only those with career experience in law will be selected as prosecutors.” This suggests a change from the current system, where law school graduates can immediately become prosecutors. They also planned to introduce a system for the disciplinary dismissal of prosecutors.
Additionally, the Democratic Party proposed reversing the decision to dismantle weirs on the Geum and Yeongsan rivers and strongly promoting water quality improvement through “natural restoration” of the four major rivers. They planned to completely open the weirs on the Nakdong River and the other four major rivers and stop promoting new dam installations, which neither assist in flood and drought prevention nor are desired by local residents.
In the realm of organizational restructuring, the pledge book included plans to expand and strengthen the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family into the Ministry of Gender Equality and Families and to establish a new Ministry of Climate and Energy. The proposed Ministry of Climate and Energy aims to lead efforts in supporting companies reorienting their business for carbon neutrality and strengthening industrial competitiveness through the enactment of the Carbon-Neutral Industry Act.
In terms of housing policies, the plan focuses on supply measures, promising a housing policy centered on providing residences for the middle-class and low-income groups. They also pledged to address issues hindering new construction demand due to high sale prices and to promote redevelopment and reconstruction procedures under the principle of strengthening public interest while easing regulations on floor space ratio and building-to-land ratios.
The scale of financial resources required to implement these pledges was not disclosed. The election committee stated, “We will fulfill the promises in the policy pledge book and create a nation that shines once more.”