Park, Moon strive to contain ‘Ahn effect’

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The presidential candidates of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) are striving to consolidate their supporters as they face mounting pressure over the soaring popularity of maverick Ahn Cheol-soo.

On Sunday, the ruling party’s Park Geun-hye wooed middle-class homeowners, whereas Moon Jae-in of the DUP met market vendors to listen to their side of the story on social inequality, and asked for support from his DUP primary rivals before the market tour.

Park unveiled the campaign pledges to help relieve worries of homeowners who are struggling over soaring mortgage interest, dubbed “the house poor.”

These middle-class people are poised to slide into poverty as they find it difficult to pay the interest due to the collapse of the housing market.

Under a comprehensive plan to fight such problems, Park also pledged to ease requirements of bank loans for tenants as they have suffered increasing rent costs.

Park, meanwhile, replaced Hong Il-pyo with Lee Jung-hyun, a member of the Saenuri Party’s decision-making Supreme Council, to oversee media relations after Hong caused confusion over Park’s remarks on a spy ring scandal that occurred nearly four decades ago.

Lee, also a former lawmaker, is a key aide of Park. The reshuffle came amid a fall in her support after the Ahn declared his independent bid to run in the presidential election last week.

Insiders speculate that Park may unveil her stance on the dark side of her father the late President Park Chung-hee’s 18-year rule during her visit to the southeastern port city of Busan, the ruling party’s home turf.

In the nation’s second largest city, there are families and relatives of victims of the democracy strife that took place in Busan and nearby Masan in October 1979, 10 days before President Park was assassinated by the then chief of his spy agency.

Park, however, didn’t mention the timing of when she will “summarize” her positions on political repression while her late father was in office.

She vowed to clarify her position on the past days after her support fell. A Gallup poll released last week found that her ratings were down 3 percentage points, compared with a week ago.

This stood in stark contrast to her two rivals, Ahn and Moon, who saw their support climb 8 percentage points and 4 percentage points, respectively.

Political analysts said Park’s losing popularity is the combined result of the backfiring of her remarks on the May 16 military coup, through which her father took power, and the boost of support for Ahn after making his presidential bid public last week.

‘Melting pot’ campaign

Moon toured a traditional market in the western part of Seoul to woo vendors who have been hit hard by large retailers in their neighborhoods.

He met his DUP primary rivals Sohn Hak-kyu, who finished the DUP primary as runner-up and Chung Sye-kyun over the weekend to ask for their support. The two pledged their cooperation.

The Moon camp said they will offer a key campaign post to Chung Dong-young, a former presidential candidate who ran unsuccessfully in the 2007 presidential race.

This is part of the strategy to embrace those who have different ideas and visions from within, under the slogan of “the melting pot” campaign.

Chung served as unification minister to the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. Later he tried to distance himself from the then unpopular lame duck President during the 2007 presidential campaign. Since then he was depicted as an anti-Roh figure in the DUP.

The path the former lawmaker has taken over the past years was quite different from that of Rep. Moon, a loyalist to the late Roh. Moon made the most of his ties with Roh for his campaign for the DUP primary as the late president had posthumous popularity in the wake of his tragic death.

Moon is seeking support from Chung, one of the symbolic figures representing the anti-Roh faction, as the DUP candidate may need to have another showdown against Ahn to pick a unified standard bearer for the opposition camp before the presidential election.

Ahn engages in policy tour

Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo stressed Sunday that the role of policy and policymakers should be to change the lives of the people.

Speaking at a policy consultation meeting in Seogyo-dong, Seoul, the software-mogul-turned candidate said, “my campaign team will soon share our policies to bring about changes in ordinary people’s lives.”

His appearance at the meeting followed his visit Saturday to a traditional market in Suwon, where he said unfair business practices by conglomerate-run supermarkets hamper traditional markets and take away the livelihoods of merchants.

Ahn announced his bid for the presidential campaign last Wednesday. The widely-anticipated announcement pushed the presidential election campaign into full swing.

He has quickly risen as the main rival of Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, who has topped opinion polls. Moon Jae-in, a former aide to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, appears to have taken a backseat.

The former professor pledged he’d bring in meaningful change that has the potential to change ordinary lives.

Ahn has background in business and academia, but his lack of a political grounding and support is expected to be a barrier. He hinted at a possible deal with Moon during a speech last week, but refused to elaborate on it.