hankyoreh

left

By Seok Jin-hwan

With 10 days remaining from the Oct. 26 Seoul mayoral by-election, a tactic of negative campaigning employed by ruling Grand National Party (GNP) candidate Na Kyung-won against unified opposition candidate Park Won-soon has emerged as one of the most decisive factors in determining the election outcome. The two candidates have been in a direct clash, as the Na’s campaign team has been eagerly demanding a thorough vetting process for her rival Park, while the opposition candidate has called the tactics “conventional smear campaigning.”

Following witnessing a drop in Park’s support rating, in possible effects of the GNP’s continuing attack on Park’s clean image, the opposition bloc has opted for a more aggressive campaign. The unified candidate said he will now “squarely face a barrage of accusations” from a judge-turned-politician Na and will launch the campaign to drive out “old-fashion politics.”

The Park election team held a press conference Sunday, with former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, Democratic Party Chairman Sohn Hak-gyu and New Progressive Party Committee member Kim Hye-kyung in attendance.

The team said, “Groundless accusations against Park Won-soon with the simple aim of winning more votes will only make the public more disenchanted with politics. The smear campaigning must be stopped.”

Park’s campaign team filed a complaint against Na’s spokesman Ahn Hyung-hwan and Independent Lawmaker Kang Yong-seok for violations of election laws and defamation. Lawmaker Ahn alleged that lawyer-turned-civic activist Park deceived the public by saying he was a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School. The campaign team is also considering legal action against GNP Lawmaker Shin Ji-ho for his allegations that Park intentionally avoided military service.

Refuting the charge from Park, Na said “Seoul constituents deserve a thorough vetting process. Therefore, it is wrong to call this negative campaigning when, in fact, it is a screening one must pass for the top post in Seoul City.”

The Na’s election team said it plans to continue its campaign strategies until election day.

“Although I am representing the ruling party as chairman, I have never been sponsored for my private activities such as climbing. The fact that Park received 10 million won in a form of sponsorship from a company for his climbing project will undoubtedly make the voters question his integrity,” said Hong Joon-pyo, escalating and continuing the GNP’s attack on Park’s ethical standards.

(Translated by Kang Jin-kyu, Intern)