There is a heated dispute among people in the year 2012. That is because the presidential election, which is held every 4 years, is nearing. December 19 will be the starting point to take a step forward, so voting is really important. Voting is important, but not difficult. Invest your 10 minutes in the designated times from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on December 19. December 19 is a public holiday for yourself, your family, your region and your country. However, people who apply for the way of voting for a ship’s crew can vote on December 11. People who apply for absentee voting can also vote on December 13. Adults over 19 who do not have reasons for being disqualified can exercise their right to vote - ED
 
 In the 2012 presidential election, Park Geun-hye, who belongs to the Saenuri Party, and Moon Jae-in, who belongs to the Democratic United Party, are receiving attention. The candidates made many presidential election pledges to the people, but, in particular, they promised the following things:
 
Changing temporary positions to permanent positions
A survey by the Ministry of Employment and Labor showed that 8.37 million workers (48%) are unofficially employed of all 17.420 million workers. It is serious that non-regular workers experience insecurity about their jobs and poor working conditions. Candidates seem to be in agreement to change temporary positions to permanent positions. They plan to divide into public sectors and private sectors, so they will change temporary positions to permanent positions. In particular, they promised that non-regular employment will be completely abolished in public sectors. In the case of private sectors, candidates promised that non-regular employment will be minimized by making employment disclosures necessary.      
 
Introducing a direct tax on the wealthy
There is a controversy about introducing a direct tax on the wealthy. A large majority of influential candidates professed opposition to introducing a direct tax on the wealthy due to equity of taxers. According to their arguments, eradicating tax evasion and minimizing reduction exemptions are more important than introducing a direct tax on the wealthy. However, unpopular candidates tend to emphasize introducing a direct tax on the wealthy.
 
Providing free health services by expanding the budget for welfare.
About the concern for free health services, there is a definite difference of opinions among candidates. Candidate Park said that the government can not realize implementing free health services by expanding the budget for welfare. That is because the government needs 56 trillion won to implement free health services, which are inefficient. However, Candidate Moon argued that the government should support the price of medical treatments by expanding the budget because people have a right to be provided health services without economic burden. 
Keeping the existing nuclear power plants and making new nuclear power plants.
Most candidates opposed keeping the existing nuclear power plants and making new nuclear power plants. The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan provoked the controversy about the safety of nuclear power. Candidate Moon emphasized that we need to develop new green energy instead of nuclear energy. According to his argument, the price of nuclear energy is also not cheaper than other energies if we consider compensation for damages. Candidate Park doesn't have a clear stance. She claimed that the government needs to restore people’s trust about the safety of nuclear energy.  
 
Empowering local governments in connection with budgets
It is difficult for local governments to make policies for regional development because they do not manage the budgets freely. To resolve this problem, candidates promised to push ahead with decentralization of finance and to rectify the imbalance of regional finance. In particular, candidate Moon drew up a specific plan to enact by increasing the local consumption tax and income tax. However, candidate Park claimed that empowering local governments is good, but monitoring is also needed to run local budgets without corruption.
 
Supporting North Korea from a humanitarian point of view
Most candidates agreed that the government should support North Korea from a humanitarian point of view. North Korea’s death rate is 8 times that of South Korea’s, and kids in North Korea have difficulty developing their bodies. Candidates claimed that we have to support them because they are our countrymen regardless of politics. They proposed that the support can contribute to forming trust between North Korea and South Korea.
 
 About the 2012 presidential election, an anonymous CBNU student said, “Many candidates run for this election. I am excited because this election is the first time for me to vote. I think that voting is a responsibility for us, and I will also vote for someone.” Moreover, she said, “Most people have two candidates in their eye after candidate Ahn Cheol-soo withdrew his candidacy. I will not mention the candidate I will vote for, but changing temporary positions to permanent positions was a major determinant for my judgement.  The reason that changing temporary positions to permanent positions is important to me is that I have to find my job after graduation. I hope my representative will be elected.”
 
The importance of voting
 Korea is a democratic society. People can freely participate in politics for themselves in society. However, it is impossible and inefficient to reflect the opinions of all people, so they choose their representatives to reflect their opinions. People can guarantee their rights to live happily through voting for someone. Therefore, voting is very important, but some people do not perform their duty as Korean citizens. In the last presidential election, which was held in 2007, the whole turnout of voters was 63%, and the record was the lowest in twenty years. In particular, the average turnout of young voters who were in their twenties was 40%, which shows that people in their twenties are indifferent to politics. Do you want to pay half of your tuition fees? Do you want to guarantee your job? If you really want something, find your representative and vote for him or her!
 
Lee Ha-na
hn32@cbnu.ac.kr