Scandal Accelerates Roh’s Lame Duck
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The latest fake degree scandal involving a former top presidential aide has dealt a fatal blow to President Roh Moo-hyun by damaging the pro-government camp's presidential bid as well as accelerating his lame duck status, a political analyst said Tuesday.
The Roh administration has touted ``morality'' as the top priority of government management, but the last bastion has collapsed due to the influence-peddling case surrounding a former Dongguk University art professor, said the expert.
``This is a worst-case scenario not only for Roh but also the so-called pro-Roh presidential hopefuls,'' Kim Hyung-joon, a professor of political science at Myongji University in Seoul, said in a phone interview with The Korea Times.
``To avoid a lame duck presidency, Roh has been trying to intervene in current politics and the upcoming presidential election,'' Kim said. ``But the latest scandal has severely marred Roh's confidence in his governance and will likely affect his political influence as well.''
Senior presidential policy planner Byeon Yang-kyoon, 58, was sacked on Monday for his role in protecting Shin Jeong-ah, 35, who was accused of forging undergraduate, masters and PhD degree certificates from the University of Kansas and Yale University.
The prosecution said Byeon and Shin, a former art curator, have a ``close relationship.'' Byeon was found to have pressured a former board director of the university to keep mum on Shin's fake diploma.
In another case, a former presidential protocol secretary is also under investigation by prosecutors on suspicion of assisting corrupt builders in Busan commit massive tax evasion.
Roh dismissed the allegations involving the presidential aides as fictional or attacks from local media that oppose the government's plan to shut down most pressrooms in government ministries and agencies.
As no viable presidential contender emerges from the pro-government camp, political observers anticipated those supported by Roh would get the upper hand in their preliminary bout.
Former Prime Ministers Lee Hae-chan and Han Myeong-sook, and former Minister of Welfare and Health Ryu Si-min are considered presidential hopefuls favored by Roh.
``The three pro-Roh contenders have lost momentum,'' the professor said.
Kim, however, said the other two frontrunners _ former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu and former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young _ may benefit from Roh's waning political power.
``It is expected that the pro-government camp will try to distance itself from Roh. That is, both Sohn and Chung can be freer from any Cheong Wa Dae influence, and either of them can absorb support from pro-Roh voters in the end,'' said Kim.
For the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), the influence-peddling scandals would serve as a ``shield'' against political attacks from the presidential office and the pro-government camp on the morality of its presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak, Kim said.
The conservative GNP is calling for a thorough probe to get to the bottom of the case, raising suspicion that more presidential aides may be involved in scandals.