Daegu, the ‘heart of the conservative’ is still confused. In this unprecedented ‘race between oppositions’ in presidential election, the voters are very much undecided.
As the former ruling party including the Liberty Korea Party and the Bareun Party are faltering with the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, Daegu‘s public sentiment seems to be yearning for a presidential runner that can be trusted.
Once weighing Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party, Daegu voters seem to be noticing Hong Jun-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party now.
Deep down in this public sentiment seriously weighing Ahn and Hong is the so-called ’anti-Moon (Moon Jae-in) feeling.‘ “Anyone will do if it is not Moon Jae-in [of the Minjoo Party]” has become a kind of buzzword here, and the attention is focused on who can better stop Moon between Ahn and Hong. The level of trust on Moon’s security stance is particularly low.
As daytime temperature already reached 25 degrees Celsius in Daegu, we visited Seomun Market in Jung-gu, Daegu on April 22nd. This is a traditional market that represents Daegu, where presidential front runners coming to this city will always visit. Hong Min-sik (52), a merchant at Seomun Market started by saying, “Moon Jae-in, I think he should never be our president.”
He continued, “He always talks about ‘deep-rooted evils’, but isn’t the Minjoo Party‘s internal faction war a deep-rooted evil? He is basically ignoring and ridiculing the people by criticizing another party for having a deep-rooted evil when his own party has one. That man is not a presidential material. A president must show some tolerance.”
Lee (46), another merchant does not support a particular candidate, but he still criticized Moon as “someone who will throw money away at North Korea.” Kim (36, Jung-gu), a public servant declared, “Moon Jae-in won’t do because he can’t even say that North Korea is our main enemy.”
Baek (75), a merchant at Bullo Market in Dong-gu raised voice: “He is a ‘professional liar’ who insists that [former President] Roh Moo-Hyun has not received a dime. How can he run for presidency?”
An anonymous merchant in the fifties we met in Dongseong-ro said, “In Daegu, the only supporters of Moon Jae-in are the original opposition supporters who have never changed their mind.” Jo (24), a job seeker we met near Suseong Library said, “When I saw Moon drag down the president and participate in the candlelight protest, I thought he was obsessed with power. I‘m against his employment promise to increase public service jobs because it will inevitably increase our tax burden.”
In this situation, Daegu voters are considering an alternative to stop Moon. The answers of citizens are largely divided between Hong and Ahn. Baek of Bullo Market supports Hong: “That is an honest man. He is not corrupted. He said that he will put everything in the washing machine and clean it all. Hong is capable too, because he is a representative elected for many terms.”
Choi Jin-ho (46), a distribution dealer we met in the Sin-am Park, Dong-gu said, “Hong is not soft because he used to be a prosecutor. He is the one who can redress the order of our country, troubled by the division between candlelight and Taegeukgi.”
Ahn (27, Dong-gu), a corporate employee said, “I like Hong Jun-pyo because he is determined and talks in a straightforward manner.” Public servant Kim said, “Both my parents and parents-in-law support Hong. In Daegu, [Hong] is decisively the number one popular runner.”
There are quite a few Ahn supporters, too. They highly esteem Ahn’s ‘conservative security stance’ and personal capabilities. The preference is relatively higher among the youth in their 20s and 30s. Shin (36, Jung-gu) who is a professional said, “I am a middle-grounder politically, but I think we must be conservative about security. Excluding the Liberty Korea Party that ruined the country when in power, I think Ahn is the only option.” Park (61, Suseong-gu), a housewife said, “Ahn seems to be less corrupted.” Park Ki-bong (66), a taxi driver favored Ahn: “Ahn has developed computer virus vaccines and the man is exceptionally smart.”
With the idea of wasted vote, Daegu citizens‘ mind seems to be much more complicated than the outsiders think. The local sentiment seems to be lost between “Pick Hong, Elect Moon [to Presidency]” and “Park Jie-won [Leader of the People’s Party] the Shadow King.”
“Pick Hong, Elect Moon” seems to be a wide spread notion. Hong, a merchant at Seomun Market confessed, “Hong is the best candidate. But his support rating is still low, so I’m worried that my supporting Hong will elect Moon to presidency.”
Taxi driver Park was more specific: “If Ahn should narrow the gap with Moon within a 5 percent range, I will vote for Ahn.” Shin who supports Ahn said, “People around me were going to vote for Hong, but they are all for Ahn now because the possibility of Hong’s winning is too low.”
Yet quite a few people talked about “Park Jie-won the Shadow King,” an idea actively spread by the Liberty Korea and the Bareun Party. The taxi driver said, “I want to vote for Ahn, but I hate it that Park is standing firm behind Ahn. If Park should back off now, I think Ahn’s support rating will go up.” Jo the job seeker said, “I don‘t like Ahn because pro-North Park is behind him,” going through so-called ’pro-North remarks‘ of Park one by one. Park the housewife said, “People I know said that they want to vote for Ahn, but he is just another Moon if Park is behind him. So they support Hong.” Park added, “My son is adamant that Moon Jae-in is the president. We fought so much that we don’t talk about it now.”
The heightened security issue seems to be working against Ahn, too. Corporate employee Ahn said, “The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system must be placed for security, but Ahn‘s opinions seem to be mixed. I can plainly see that he is playing tricks to get conservative votes.”
Although Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party was favorably received thanks to his performance in recent TV debates, Daegu still seems to consider him as a ’traitor.‘
Lee (26), a college student we met in Dongseong-ro said, “Yoo impressed me favorably with his eloquent speech in the TV debate. But it does not mean that I will vote for him. People around me all said that he won’t win even if we vote for him.” A merchant in the 50s said with a tut-tut, “No, he is a man who betrayed his master. Even a dog would not betray his own master.” A merchant in the 30s we met in Dongseong-ro said, “Hong’s support rating is low, but Yoo’s is still lower. So his possibility of winning is really low.”