The 20th presidential election will be held on March 9th, 2022. What campaign promises has the next Korean president made to ensure social health during their five-year term? Let’s take a look at the campaign promises made by Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, Yoon Seok-yeol of the People Power Party, Sim Sang Jung of the Justice Party, and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party. 

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* CW: The article contains mentions of sexual violence.

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No 1. Lee Jae-myung

[Re: gender wage gap] “We will actively invest in expanding childcare leave for all and eliminating the childcare gap.” - November 9th, 2021 Facebook

[Re: sexual violence] “Disclosure of sexual offenders’ personal information will be expanded to all neighbors regardless of age or gender.” - September 28th, 2021

[Re: Nth room case] “The Nth room prevention law is not an act of censorship. While freedom of speech is good, it cannot be claimed when you are infringing upon another’s rights and causing harm.  - December 11th, 2021 Speech at Gyeongbuk Andong Market

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No 2. Yoon Seok-yeol

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[Re: gender wage gap] “Through establishing an integrated platform for child care, the government will support childcare from birth to elementary school. Childcare leave will be expanded to one and a half years for each parent, for a total of three years. We will also drastically expand childcare services necessary for emergency childcare. - November 9th 2021, National Women’s Conference

[Re: sexual violence] “With the introduction of the world’s most advanced electronic monitoring system and protective accommodation, we will increase punishments for sexual crimes and do our best to protect victims. A new “false accusation” clause will be added to the sexual violence special law to eradicate false allegations.” - October 21st, 2021 Press Conference. 

[Re: Nth room case] “The 18th article on our country’s Constitution stipulates that “the privacy of correspondence of no citizen shall be infringed”... Measures should be taken to prevent both crimes and infringement of communication secrets” – December 12th, 2021 Facebook

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No. 3 Sim Sang Jung

[Re: gender wage gap]  “To resolve the gender wage gap, we will implement an equal wage disclosure system and a maximum wage law.” - September 8th, 2021 Press Conference

[Re: sexual violence] “A ‘Special investigation headquarters for digital sex crimes’ will be established as part of the National Police Agency to develop the capabilities needed to investigate digital sex crimes. -  December 13th, 2021 Facebook

[Re: Nth room case] “It is important to institutionalize rape crimes. Current sentences for sexual violence crimes are generally too low, and will be raised accordingly.” - November 18th, 2021 Talk Concert 

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No. 4 Ahn Cheol-soo

[Re: Nth room case]  “Systems that censor all citizens should be abolished immediately… For the 2nd, 3rd Nth room cases, we will be taking measures such as strengthening punishments, improving the system, and expanding the number of professional investigators to eradicate serious sexual exploitation crimes.” – Ahn’s Facebook page

[Re: gender equality]  “Isn’t the proportion of women within corporate executives so much lower among the older generation? The basic direction should be towards pursuing gender equality. In the 2030 generation, some jobs are female-dominated... We need to approach each generation in its context.” - February 8th, 2022 Debate

[Re: sexual violence] “We will revise Article 297 of the criminal law per the principle of “non-consensual rape” and severely punish sex crimes. The ‘non-consent punishment’ clause will be deleted from the Stalking Punishment Act. Digital platforms will be held responsible for digital sex crimes.” - November 25th, 2021 Campaign Promises Announcement.