By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff reporter
A civic group that advocates the "manifesto movement" criticized politicians, Wednesday, for exploiting the current political upheavals to win votes.
Candidates are preoccupied with capitalizing on the growing anti-North Korea sentiment, the first anniversary of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun's death, and an investigation into prosecutors who allegedly received sexual entertainment as bribes from a businessman, the Korea Manifesto Center said in a statement.
"The vision and policies of candidates have completely disappeared in the campaigns for the June 2 elections, while mudslinging has reached a disgraceful level," it said.
The fair-election advocacy group also urged voters to be wary of new campaign promises that politicians have abruptly made and avoid picking candidates trying to draw support by relying on ideological inclinations.
Both ruling and opposition parties have been politicizing the three issues since May 20, the first day of a 13-day official campaign, the group said.
On Wednesday, Oh Se-hoon, Seoul mayoral candidate of the governing Grand National Party (GNP), criticized Han Myeong-sook of the main opposition Democratic Party for using the death of Roh for political gain.
"She is destroying the opportunity to make the mayoral race a contest of policies and attempting to take advantage of emotional reactions of people around the first anniversary of Roh's death," Oh, who is seeking a second term, said in an interview.
Roh committed suicide on May 23, 2009 by jumping off a mountain behind his home in the village of Bongha, South Gyeongsang Province, during the prosecution's investigation into his family's alleged corruption.
The GNP candidate also criticized Han, who worked as prime minister during the Roh administration, of linking the sinking of the Navy ship Cheonan on March 26 to the local poll.
"The Cheonan incident is a security matter that should be dealt with separately from the election, as it is irrelevant to selecting a servant of Seoul," he said.
However, Han refuted such claims, saying Oh is the one taking advantage of the growing anti-North Korea sentiment triggered by the Lee Myung-bak administration, following the naval disaster which claimed the lives of 46 sailors.
"The Lee administration carefully orchestrated the plan and announced the result of their investigation into the incident on May 20, the first day of the campaigning," Han said.
"The people should not be fooled by sweet promises and the GNP's attempt to politicize anti-North Korea sentiment. Instead, we should all join hands to ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula," Han said.