Main opposition in trouble for raising false suspicion

The main opposition party was shoved into a corner Friday after leveling untrue suspicions that the son of the rival ruling party received special favors, turning the tide in a political battle it thought it was winning.

Rep. Lee Seok-hyun of the Democratic Party (DP) had claimed Thursday that a son of Ahn Sang-soo, chairman of the Grand National Party (GNP), was apparently given favors in the process of being admitted to the law school at Seoul National University (SNU).

Citing "reliable information," Lee said the son, who was placed seventh on the school's admission waiting list, was accepted over other candidates on the list.

SNU immediately denied the allegations, and hours after the denial, Lee and the DP floor leader Park Jie-won backed down.

On Friday, Lee apologized to Ahn, his family and the university, acknowledging he had erred in making the remarks without verifying the facts.

DP chairman Sohn Kak-kyu stepped in for damage control, apologizing on behalf of the party for making the accusations without solid confirmation of the truth.

"As Rep. Lee has apologized with sincerity, I ask you to accept (his apology) with generosity," he said.

The GNP on Friday filed libel suits against Rep. Lee and the DP's floor leader Park and said it will also seek punishment through the parliamentary ethics committee.

The opposition's debacle turned the table on the DP, which had been on a winning streak by bashing Ahn, which in turn maimed the ruling party.

The GNP chairman was criticized last month for his remarks likening women to food. Men like "natural food," he was heard saying to a group that included reporters, referring to women who have not had plastic surgery.

Just prior to that controversy, he became a subject of ridicule by mistaking a set of thermos bottles for North Korean artillery shells during his visit to Yeonpyeong Island after it was bombarded by the North.

On Wednesday, the nominee for top state auditor resigned from his nomination, succumbing to a campaign by the DP who said he was unfit for the post.

The DP's embarrassment came as the party was stepping up its offensive ahead of next week's confirmation hearing for other Cabinet nominees -- ministers for economy and culture.

"We don't see this as Rep. Lee's personal issue," GNP spokesman Ahn Hyoung-hwan said. "We are proceeding with legal procedures from the perspective of rooting out the DP's practice of groundless accusations and exposes." (Yonhap)