Vote Buying

More Efforts Needed to Root Out Corrupt Practice

Residents of Cheongdo, a county famous for traditional Korean bullfighting in North Gyeongsang Province, are living in shame as many of them accepted money for their vote. Mayor Jeong Han-tae was arrested on charges of vote buying Friday. Twenty-one of his campaigners were also detained over the illegal electioneering.

Two residents have committed suicide over their implication in the corrupt practice. Police presume that some 5,700 voters took money from the Jeong camp before the Dec. 19 re-election, accounting for 12.4 percent of the total population in the county. There is no doubt that Jeong, 55, was elected with the help of dirty money.

Vote buying can never be condoned because it is a grave crime that can shake the foundations of grassroots democracy. How can people still think of winning an election by resorting to such methods? Such illegality was apparently rife in the 1960s-70s. But Jeong's case proves how widespread corruption in South Korea still is.

It is a shame that money still talks in campaigns, in this case not for a president or lawmaker, but for a county chief. However, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Critics claim that candidates running for mayors or councilors in small cities and counties are still trying to buy votes. Elections have taken place in Cheongdo every year since 2005 to elect new leaders because of illegal campaigns.

According to police, Jeong spent about 600 million won ($638,000) on vote buying. His campaigners distributed between 50,000 won and 100,000 won to each voter. What would Jeong do after bribing the residents? Was he really likely to work to protect residents' interests, offer more welfare programs, or carry out regional development projects?

The answer is surely ``no.'' Rather, he would apparently put his own interest ahead of public good in a bid to harvest returns from his spending on vote buying. Jeong is vice chief of a local chapter of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP). Unfortunately, he has tarnished the image of the party, to which President-elect Lee Myung-bak belongs.

Lee and his party should roll up their sleeves to prevent the recurrence of such illegal electioneering. General elections are scheduled for April. Lee and his GNP members are already in dispute over the nomination of candidates. They should not allow any room for money politics. It is time for them to usher in a new political culture by distancing themselves from the outdated party politics tainted by skullduggery and dirty money.

The incoming government must go all-out to ensure clean elections and clean politics. We hope Lee will not compromise his anti-corruption campaign for the sake of pragmatism.