The National Election Commission (NEC) says it will hold TV debates among presidential candidates from December sixth.

Seven out of 12 candidates will face off in the first three debates, two hours long each. They are the Grand National Party’s Lee Myung-bak, the United New Democratic Party’s Chung Dong-young, the Democratic Labor Party’s Kwon Young-ghil, the Democratic Party’s Rhee In-je and the People First Party's Sim Dae-pyung, the upstart CKP's Moon Kook-hyun and independent contender Lee Hoi-chang.

The first debate will be held on December sixth on politics, diplomacy and security. The second session will be held on December eleventh on society, education and culture with the third one set to take place on December 16th on issues of the economy, labor, welfare and science.

The election watchdog will organize on December 13th a separate TV debate among the five minor candidates Chung Geun-mo, Heo Kyung-young, Jeon Kwan, Keum Min and Lee Soo-sung.

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