{"id":4615,"date":"2017-05-09T10:09:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T15:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/?p=4615"},"modified":"2017-06-20T22:41:56","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T03:41:56","slug":"the-race-to-the-presidential-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/the-race-to-the-presidential-election\/","title":{"rendered":"The Race to the Presidential Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Election Day is just around the corner, and many South Korean voters are waiting in anticipation to elect their next resident of the\u00a0\uccad\uc640\ub300 <\/em><\/span>(Presidential Blue House).<\/p>\n

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For several months, Korea has faced political crisis and challenges<\/a> \u00a0due to\u00a0\ubc15\uadfc\ud61c<\/span> <\/em>(Park Geun-hye) who served the 18th<\/sup> presidential term in South Korea.\u00a0She was officially removed from her presidency on March 2017 due to the so called \u201c\ucd5c\uc21c\uc2e4 \uac8c\uc774\ud2b8 <\/em>(Choi Soon-sil Gate)<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Since\u00a0\ub300\ud1b5\ub839<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>(president) Park was\u00a0supposed to end her \uc784\uae30\u00a0<\/em><\/span>(term) in 2018, a new \ub300\ud1b5\ub839 \uc120\uac70<\/em><\/span> (presidential election) is scheduled to be held on May 9, 2017.<\/p>\n

South Korean citizens who were born before May 10, 1998, are allowed to vote to elect their new\u00a0\ub300\ud1b5\ub839 <\/em><\/span>(president). \uc0ac\uc804\ud22c\ud45c<\/em> <\/span>(early voting) began on May 4th<\/sup> and 5th<\/sup>, and regular voting will be held on May 9th<\/sup> between \uc624\uc804<\/em><\/span> 6<\/em>\uc2dc<\/em><\/span> (6:00 a.m.) and \uc624\ud6c4<\/em><\/span> 8<\/em>\uc2dc<\/em><\/span> (8:00 p.m.).<\/p>\n

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Although a total of 15 \u00a0\ud6c4\ubcf4\uc790<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>(candidates) originally registered for the election, now only 13 hopeful contenders will vie for the South Korean Presidency. \ubb38\uc7ac\uc778<\/em><\/span> (Moon Jae-In) from the \ub354\ubd88\uc5b4\ubbfc\uc8fc\ub2f9<\/em><\/span> (Democratic Party of South Korea) and\u00a0\uc548\ucca0\uc218<\/em><\/span> (Ahn Cheol-Soo) from the \uad6d\ubbfc\uc758\ub2f9<\/em> <\/span>(People\u2019s Party of South Korea) are the two leading candidates for the South Korean presidency.<\/p>\n

\ubb38\uc7ac\uc778\u00a0<\/em><\/span>(Moon Jae-In) has been the front runner of the presidential race for months. He raced against \ubc15\uadfc\ud61c\u00a0<\/em><\/span>and narrowly lost to her in 2012. Due to this, his name and political views are well known to South Korean voters. His party and his political views have appealed to many liberal South Korean voters who are under 50 years old.<\/p>\n

\uc548\ucca0\uc218<\/em><\/span> (Ahn Cheol-Soo) is known as a medical doctor, computer programmer, and a co-founder of the\u00a0\uad6d\ubbfc\uc758\ub2f9<\/em><\/span>. An interesting fact about him is that he withdrew from the presidential election in 2012 in order to back his current opponent, \ubb38\uc7ac\uc778<\/em><\/span>. Although he does not have a strong political background, his political views have appealed to conservative and swing voters in South Korea.<\/p>\n

Many of my friends and family members have already voted for their favorite candidate. I often hear them asking around \u201c\ub204\uad6c<\/em> \ucc0d\uc73c\uc168\uc5b4\uc694<\/em>?<\/em><\/span> (Who did you vote for?)\u201d or \ub204\uad6c<\/em> \ucc0d\uc73c\uc2e4<\/em> \uac70\uc608\uc694<\/em>?<\/span> (Who are you going to vote for?).\u201d Most of their answers were \u201c\ube44\ubc00\uc778\ub370\uc694<\/em><\/span>!<\/span> <\/em>(It\u2019s a secret!)\u201d *^^*<\/p>\n

Are you also curious to know who the next president of the South Korea will be?<\/p>\n

\uac10\uc0ac\ud569\ub2c8\ub2e4<\/em><\/strong>!<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Thank you!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

***Related Vocabulary***<\/strong><\/p>\n

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