国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Prospects for S. Korean presidential race blurred by factional strife, regroup_时事

国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Prospects for S. Korean presidential race blurred by factional strife, regroup

SHOWDOWN BETWEEN FORMER PARTY CHIEF AND RISING STAR

Presidential primary for the Minjoo Party is forecast to become a showdown between Moon Jae-in, the biggest opposition party's former head, and Lee Jae-myung, mayor of Seongnam, a city to the southeast of capital Seoul.

In accordance with higher popularity of their party, Moon's approval rating as presidential candidate rose to 24.0 percent, topping the polls for the seventh consecutive week, according to a Realmeter survey released on Thursday.

Entering this year in the low single digit, support for Lee skyrocketed in recent weeks and moved into a third place at 16.1 percent. Lee became a rising star in recent surveys as he was one of major politicians to participate, at the very beginning, in candlelight vigils to demand President Park's resignation.

Moon and Lee have many in common in terms of views on security, diplomatic and economic policies, but they have different merits and demerits that they may face as challenges in the upcoming primary.

They place dialogue over pressure in addressing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program, prefer a balanced diplomacy to avoid siding with one party, and pursue fairness and justice in the economy that has been controlled by a fraction of family-run conglomerates.

Moon may be a safe choice for liberal voters as he was the party's presidential candidate in the 2012 election, where he narrowly lost to President Park, and was chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun, the country's most respected president who symbolizes the decentralized presidential power.