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Before the campaign season for the upcoming presidential election gets into full swing, current and former heavyweight journalists are rushing to join the political campaigns of the leading presidential hopefuls.

Lee Dong-gwan, an editorial writer at the Dong-A Ilbo, recently offered to resign and joined the political campaign of presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP). Earlier, Heo Yong-beom, Washington correspondent for the Chosun Ilbo, began working for Park Geun-hye, the other leading GNP presidential hopeful, just after quitting the newspaper.

Kim Jae-mok, former senior reporter at the Munhwa Ilbo, also recently left the company and started his political career by joining in the camp of Sohn Hak-kyu, the former Gyeonggi Province governor and current presidential hopeful who recently quit the GNP to enter the race. Bae Jong-ho, head of the radio news team at KBS, began working on Sohn’s campaign in late May of this year.

Noteworthy is that most journalists are opting for two candidates - Park and Lee of the GNP - whose approval ratings outperform other rivals, as they see there could be a greater chance that one of them will win the presidential election scheduled for late December of this year. Park and Lee’s campaign teams each include 6-7 staff members from news outlets since the launch of their campaigns. There were no journalists who joined in the campaigns of ruling-camp hopefuls, with the exception of those who joined Sohn’s campaign

It is not unusual for journalists to rush to join the specific hopeful’s campaign ahead of the presidential election, which takes place every five years. However, most of them have been former reporters who have been out of the profession for a while before changing careers. This time, many departing journalists are people who worked as reporters or editors until just yesterday. It is also worth mentioning that there are more than a few executive-level journalists who have hurried to join the campaigning, a trend that reflects the reporting job is not as attractive as it used to be. Many of these journalists might also be jockeying for position in the parliamentary election to be held early next year, just after the new government launch.

But many observers say that the biggest explanation for the rush of journalists into the political camps might be because they expect that they could reap high returns, were their supporting candidate to win the presidential election. Indeed, many journalists who joined President Roh Moo-hyun’s campaign in the last election were assigned to key government posts.

‘‘It is a problem for journalists to move into the campaigns of presidential hopefuls immediately after they quit their work,’’ said Kim Shin-yong, editor in chief of the journal of the Journalists Association of Korea. ‘‘They should take some time... Discussion is currently underway to make a rule obliging anyone who seeks a political career take a grace period before moving into a political camp.’’

Kim Chang-ryong, a professor at Inje University, said, ‘‘In the past, it was a shame for a journalist to become a politician, but now, those who cannot go there are regarded as deficient,’’ adding that such a trend is feared to increase distrust among citizens against the media.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]