Moon Jae-in of the Minjoo Party of Korea, Hong Jun-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party, Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party, and Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party were in a heated debate on April 23rd, on foreign affairs and security issues including North Korean nuclear test, measures to reform powerful authorities and other matters.
Former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon claimed that [the Roh Moo-hyun administration] consulted with North Korea before it abstained from voting on a U.N. resolution on the North's dire human rights situation in 2007. Moon refuted Song’s claim, saying "This is just like the second 'Northern Limit Line (NLL) Scandal' raised in the previous presidential election." The presidential runners from the former ruling party asked Moon to resign, arguing that he kept changing his story, first saying that he didn’t remember, later denying the fact, and finally saying that they checked it through the National Intelligence Service.
In a TV debate organized by the Central Election Management Committee (CEMC) on KBS, Moon said, "[In the last presidential election] it was said that former President Roh gave up the NLL, but it was proved to be a baseless argument and representatives who had spread the words were punished and apologized. I will definitely hold people involved in this responsible." He then said, "This only confirms one thing: although [the administration decided to abstain from voting on the UN human rights resolution] in a meeting on November 16, 2007, former Minister Song alone insisted, 'There won’t be much backlash from North Korea even if we vote for it,' and Presidential Secretary for Security Yoon Byung-se had prepared a draft." He added, "This same old game of ‘color politics’ right before the presidential election is very disappointing."
Hong commented on this, "The current North Korean nuclear crisis is happening because the administrations of Kim Dae-jung and of Roh Moo-hyun paid 7 billion dollars." He took an aggressive stance, saying, "Mr. Moon keeps lying. It would be the biggest problem of any leader."
Ahn said, "Except Ms. Sim and I, you three candidates have been in very important positions in previous administrations. You all are responsible for the North Korean issue to come this far. All of you must apologize for it first."
Yoo asked, "I'm just saying that we should know the truth. Why is it the 'color politics'?” Then he said, "If someone is lying, the person is not qualified to be a presidential candidate." Sim supported the former administration's decision by saying, "It is natural to make a political decision [on inter-Korean issues]." She then criticized, "How would the conservative do the presidential campaigns without North Korea? This is a typical game with security."
As the runners were asked about measures to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis, Moon and Sim stressed the implementation of denuclearization by multilateral diplomacy. Ahn and Yoo suggested to persuade China to press North Korea, based on Korea-U.S. alliance. Hong proposed the balance of nuclear power and superior power, including tactical nuclear.
All runners suggested the reform of powerful authorities to check the power of imperial presidency. Moon will "empower the authority focused on presidency through a system of decision-making prime minister and ministers." Hong believed that "It is appropriate for ministers to be responsible for decision-making and for Cheongwadae to simply appoint ministers and vice ministers."
Ahn argued, "We must reduce the presidential power by amending the constitution." Yoo will "remove presidential senior secretaries and work with minister through a system based on secretaries." Sim insisted on "abolishing the presidential expenses for special activities."