The grandson of an Indian princess is being denied a fair chance
The grandson of an ancient Indian princess is running for the office of President of South Korea. But experts feel he is severely discriminated against by those in established power. The person, causing a sensation in the 20th presidential election, is the presidential candidate of the National Revolutionary Party, The Huh (Hur) family is descended from an Indian princess, who married a Korean king. Among the 13 candidates running in Korea’s presidential election, the candidate who paid the most in taxes was Huh Kyung-young. Wealth creation and its equitable distribution remain the focus of his campaign. “When I become president, I will create a world without worrying about money,” he emphasized Kim Dong-ju, head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the National Revolutionary Party, said Huh Kyung-Young, whose main income is lecture fees, has a non-profit corporation and does not have to pay taxes under the current tax law. He said, “Even if he becomes president, he is determined to return his salary in full and to pay $3,300 million expenses by himself, saving even a penny of the national budget and returning it to the people.” In the Internet election where 120,000 people have voted so far, HKY took first place with 41 per cent. “We expected Huh Kyung-Young’s approval rating to be higher than the media reports, but we didn’t know it would be this high, as number one rank among all candidates,” he said. Korea’s presidential election, scheduled for March 9, 2022, appears to have become a gruelling duel between Lee Jae-Myung of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and Yoon Seok-Youl of the main opposition conservative People Power Party (PPP). But the presidential hopefuls are at present suffering from a high level of distrust from both the public and members of their own political camps. A day before the polls, experts feel that the ruling and opposition parties’ candidates engaged in an ugly campaign and only accused each other of personal corruption and there was no worthwhile political debate.
Korea’s polling method itself is unfair. It involves polling only the presidential candidates who have at least one member of the National Assembly and excluding candidates who do not.”How can this be called a fair opinion poll?” said an expert. All presidential candidates should be randomly assigned a number, and a poll on their favourability of the presidential candidates should be conducted in the determined order, said a political expert. The people’s right to know is camouflaged in the name of democracy and it is a serious dictatorship between elephants. “People are disgusted with the current establishment powers,” he said. “Most of the media and social groups are corrupt. Why do social groups that should monitor the government accept bribes from them?” he added. There are rules that do not change. You reap what you sow. People pay taxes with the money they earned through blood and sweat. People in power are stealing that tax money. How are they going to bear the consequences of karma, he asks. The conspiracy of this presidential election is too pronounced. Many people wanted to see the presidential debate in which Candidate Huh Kyung-young also took part. People want a presidential candidate who brings a smile to the public rather than a candidate who has a lot of family corruption. What are the ruling and the opposition party afraid of? Why do they broadcast a poll every day that excludes candidate HKY? The two-way game of the ruling and the opposition party looks like a train wreck and deceives the people. These are some of the questions many observers tend to ask.
(The writer is Editor-in-Chief of Opinion Express. With an inputs from INWANGSANIN(K.T. HEO) from Seoul. The views expressed are personal.)