By Lee Tae-hoon
As the Seoul mayoral race draws near, rival candidates and their supporters are becoming increasingly reluctant to honor a pledge not to engage in negative campaigning.
Na Kyung-won and Park Wonsoon, the two frontrunners in the Oct. 26 by-election, vowed not to run smear campaigns last Tuesday, but have continued slinging mud at each other.
In just two days after the promise, Park, an independent candidate with the support of the liberal parties, criticized Na, a candidate of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) for lacking field experience.
“An armchair theory differs from what is actually happening in the field,” the lawyer-turnedcivic activist said commenting on Na’s plan to announce one campaign pledge a day.
He said that her campaign promises are out of touch with reality as they are merely speech scripts written by professionals on behalf of Na with little understanding of how to best run the nation’s capital.
And a day after hearing the remarks, former judge and twoterm lawmaker Na retaliated by launching a task force to collect and make use of information pertinent to possible corruption or ethical breaches by Park.
Since then, Na has been stepping up efforts to attack her archrival Park over allegations that he embezzled funds from the Hope Institute, a civic group, received inappropriate corporate sponsorships and found a loophole to shorten his military duty.
She claims that Park exploited a military regulation that permitted the privilege to a third-generation only son by choosing to be adopted as a grandson to one of his relatives.
Park has thus far flatly denied all allegations and recently renewed his pledge that he would refrain from launching negative campaigning.
However, the main opposition Democratic Party, which recognizes Park as a unified opposition candidate, has begun to carry out smear campaigns against Na and her supporters.
Shin Ji-ho, a spokesman for Na’s camp, even had to step down Saturday after the DP’s attacks against him for appearing on a nationally televised debate program while under the influence of alcohol. “What we can deduce from what we see of Na and Rep. Shin is that Korean politics is definitely in a crisis,” Kim Hyun, a DP spokesperson said.
Tensions between Park and Na are expected to escalate this week as the official 12-day campaign period for the upcoming by-election kicks off this Wednesday.
Observers say it remains to be seen whether Park will be able to maintain the upper hand over Na after Rep. Park Geun-hye, former GNP chairwoman, said she would support Na in the Oct.26 Seoul mayoral by-election.
The former GNP leader, who is widely viewed as the most likely candidate to run in the presidential election in 2012 on the ruling party’s ticket, promised last week to roll up her sleeves to ensure her party’s victory in the race.