South Korea presidential candidates unite on chaebol reform
Deep voter discontent over income disparity has 3 main aspirants united on need to overhaul family-run corporations
As the three main candidates for South Korea's presidency cross swords on the campaign trail, they are united on one issue - the need to reform the country's giant, family-run conglomerates, or chaebol.
Chaebol-bashing is something of an election year ritual, but the pitch and breadth of the criticism this time around from both liberal and conservative presidential hopefuls has got the mega-multinationals rattled.
"Economic democratisation," has become the campaign buzzword, founded on deep voter discontent with income disparities and unfair competition that many blame on the chaebol whose tentacles reach into every sector of the economy.
The family-controlled conglomerates powered South Korea's post-war economic miracle and spearhead its booming export business, but they are also seen as suffocating small and medium-size firms at the cost of innovation and jobs.
All three main candidates - even Park Geun-hye from the pro-business ruling conservative party - have proposed reforms of varying degrees that would clip the chaebols' wings.
It was Park's father, the late military strongman Park Chung-hee, who allowed the chaebol to flourish under his 1962-79 autocratic rule and attain their dominant position in the national economy.