□    According to the National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission, candidates to attend the 18^th presidential candidates debate, topics and how to run the debates have been confirmed at the meeting attended by the entire Commissioners on November 27. Four debates will be run, including three ‘debates for major candidates’ and one ‘debate for other candidates than major candidates.’

□    The ‘debates for major candidates’ will be attended by candidates who are nominated by a political party that has more than 5 seats in the National Assembly or by a political party that has gained more than 3/100 of the votes in the latest election or whose average approval is over 5/100 in the latest survey. Geun-hye Park, the Saenuri party’s presidential candidate, Jae-in Moon, the Democratic United party’s candidate and Jung-hee Lee, the Unified Progressive party’s candidate will attend the debates accordingly. The first debate will be hosted by Dong-ho Shin, an MBC announcer while the second and the third debate by Sang-moo Hwang, a KBS reporter.

□    In addition, the first, the second and the third debate will be run in the following order:

1^st : Public Question session, How to eradicate power-oriented corruption, Direction of policy towards North Korea and Direction of foreign policy

2^nd : How to address long-lasting recession, How to realize economic democracy, How to create jobs and stabilize employment and Public Question session

3^rd : How to deal with low birth rate and population aging, Public Question session, Measures to prevent crimes and ensure public security and How to develop science & technology.

Short-answer questions will be added to figure out each candidate’s leadership qualities, capabilities and ideas of national vision during each debate, where time will also be allocated for mutual and free discussions among candidates.

□    The ‘debate for other candidates than major candidates’ will be attended by independent candidates - Jong-sun Park, So-yeon Kim, Ji-won Kang and Soon-ja Kim listed in order of candidate number. The topics mentioned above will be discussed during the debate to be hosted by Dong-ho Shin, an MBC announcer.

□    Meanwhile, the National Election Broadcasting Debate Commission has asked for public participation in the Public Question Contest currently in progress through the website (www.debates.go.kr) by December 12 in order for the debates to serve as a forum where people share thoughts and communicate.