By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
The presidential office Thursday threatened to sue presidential contender Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party (GNP) for spreading groundless rumors and for defamation. But the Lee camp urged President Roh Moo-hyun to stop ``plotting heinous schemes to prolong its power’’ and to form a neutral caretaker Cabinet.
The full-scale verbal war is escalating into a legal battle, with both sides threatening to sue each other.
Cheong Wa Dae Wednesday gave Lee an ultimatum. To make an apology for defaming Roh or face a libel suit by today. The warning came after the 66-year-old former Seoul mayor and his campaign staff contended that Cheong Wa Dae is ``remote controlling’’ the pro-government Uri Party lawmakers and state-run research institutes to frustrate Lee’s presidential bid.
Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said the suit will be filed in the name of Presidential Chief of Staff Moon Jae-in. He described Lee as an old-fashioned politician.
The spokesman also criticized the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper for carrying the contention by Lee’s campaign workers on the front page of its Thursday issue.
The Lee camp said unless Cheong Wa Dae stops smearing Lee, the party will take Roh to court.
Meanwhile, 88 lawmakers of the Uri Party submitted to the National Assembly a bill calling for an Assembly probe into Lee’s alleged involvement in manipulating the stock price of Optional Ventures through bank accounts at BBK.
Opinion polls show that the former mayor has maintained his lead in the run up to the Dec. 19 presidential election with support of about 40 percent, followed by Park Geun-hye, 55, also of the main opposition GNP, with more than 20 percent.
Some pro-government party lawmakers alleged that Lee had been involved in unauthorized real estate transactions with his family.
On Wednesday, Lee called on Roh and the presidential office to apologize for the Uri Party’s accusation of stock price manipulation.
He called the accusation a ``political offensive orchestrated by Cheong Wa Dae.’’
Supporters of Lee such as Reps. Park Hyeong-joon and Chin Soo-hee said the accusation was an organized attack masterminded by government agencies.
Lee urged the GNP to deal sternly with the political attack against him, saying the Uri Party is trying to drive him out of the presidential race to compete with an easier adversary in the presidential election.
Lee pledged to fight the governing camp’s ``plot to extend its rule through political maneuvering.’’
He told a meeting of GNP members in South Gyeongsang Province that media reports confirmed that the Uri Party is after his blood. The Uri Party, he said, apparently thinks that it can stay in power once he is out of the race.
``I would give up the presidential bid if there was any guarantee that the nation would succeed even if the incumbent governing camp takes power again,’’ he said.