Anchor: With April’s General Elections now less than one hundred days away, voters voiced their opinions on economic and social issues to tackle in 2024. Consumer prices and the job system were at the forefront of public concerns going into the new year.
Max Lee reports.

Report: With the general elections set for April 10 of this year, KBS released the results of a survey on social and economic concerns that will hold sway over voter sentiment.

In an opinion poll conducted jointly by KBS and Hankook Research on one-thousand adults nationwide, 25 percent of respondents cited “high prices” as the most important economic issue facing the country.

Another quarter said “high interest rates and household debt” are the biggest issue to tackle in 2024.

In response to a question on the most urgent social issue facing the newly formed National Assembly, 27 percent said “price stability,” followed by “economic growth and job creation” at 24 percent and “regional disparity and population decline” at 17 percent.

As the country prepares to become a super-aging society in 2025, half of all respondents said that the most urgent social policy is an improvement to the job system, including extending the retirement age, currently set at 60.

When it comes to other major social issues such as the low birth rate, 35 percent said the government needs to resolve housing issues in order to improve the fertility rate, while more than a quarter of those surveyed said an improvement to related working conditions such as parental leave is necessary.

The survey also covered other issues like the expansion of the medical school admissions quota, which was heavily favored by a staggering 82-percent of the respondents while 14-percent said they opposed the move.

When asked about the most severe discrimination in society, 28-percent said “education and academic background,” while 16-percent said “generational discrimination.”
Max Lee, KBS World Radio News.