The National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission announced that the commissioners’ meeting on October 19^th reached an agreement on holding a total of 4 Presidential debates for the 18^th Presidential election.

There will be 3 Presidential debates for candidates on the invitation list and 1 Presidential debate for candidates not on the invitation list: candidates on the invitation list shall fall under the provisions of the Article 82-2(4); the 1^st debate will be held at 8 PM on December 4^th under the subjects of ‘Politics, Diplomacy, Security, and Unification’; the 2^nd debate at 8 PM on December 10^th under the subjects of ‘Economy, Welfare, Labor, and Environment’; the 3^rd debate at 8 PM on December 16^th under the subjects of ‘Society, Education, Science, Culture, and Women’: a debate for candidates not on the invitation list will be held at 11 PM on December 5^th.

Candidates on the invitation list will be decided at a commissioners’ meeting on November 27^th after the candidate registration from November 25^th to 26^th and shall fall under any of the followings: candidates endorsed by a political party which has 5 or more members of the National Assembly; candidates endorsed by a political party that won not less than 3/100 of a total valid votes in the immediately preceding election; and candidates who had not less than 5/100 of an average approval rating in recent public opinion polls.

The debate will be aired live on KBS and MBC nationwide. The National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission asked citizens to have a keen interest in debates, because it will provide a great opportunity for voters to compare and evaluate policies, visions and qualification of candidates.

In addition, the National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission also announced that it will hold the policy debates on October 31^st and November 16^th: according to the Article 82-3 of the Public Official Election Act, policy debates shall be held once a month from the 90^th day before the election day to the prior day of the candidate registration day (from September 20^th, 2012, to November 24^th, 2012) in the lead up to the 18^th Presidential election.