Presidential hopefuls clashed Tuesday over late President Roh Moo-hyun's alleged remarks on the de facto inter-Korean sea border, debate on control over a local education foundation and how best to pick a unified liberal candidate for the December polls.
The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) intensified their war of words on the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation.
Political observers said the two issues have escalated tensions between Saenuri candidate Park Geun-hye and her DUP rival Moon Jae-in and raised uncertainties with 64 days to go before voters go to the polls to pick the country's next chief executive.
Park said that those who know about remarks reported to have been made by Roh during the 2007 summit have an obligation to tell the truth. Her comment is seen as a direct challenge to Moon, who was chief of staff to Roh at the time of the summit and was in charge of organizing the meeting in Pyongyang.
The conservative Saenuri Party has officially called for a parliamentary probe to look into the issue, but the motion was rejected by the DUP.
In response, Moon said he will "take responsibility" if the comments are true, but made clear that Park has to clarify what actions she will take if the allegations turn up to be false.
"If Saenuri reveals purported transcripts of what was said between Roh and late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and if Park states what she will do if the allegations raised are proven false, then the DUP will agree to accept calls to look at official documents on the summit," he said.
Under South Korean law, documents held in the presidential archive cannot be checked unless two-thirds of lawmakers agree, or if a warrant is issued by a high court.
The issue took the spotlight after Rep. Chung Moon-hun claimed earlier in the month that Roh verbally disavowed the legitimacy of the NLL. The lawmaker also said the president agreed to provide massive aid for the communist country, sympathized with efforts by the North to pursue a nuclear weapons program, and offered to remove all U.S. troops from Seoul and the neighboring regions.
The DUP has referred Chung to the state prosecutors' office for spreading lies.
On the Jeongsu issue, Park reiterated she has nothing to do with how the foundation set up by her father is run at present, while Moon said such statements will not be believed by the public.
"The foundation was taken by force by the military and must be returned to the public or be given back to the relatives of the original owner," Moon said. The human rights lawyer-turned- politician has said the foundation issue needs to be resolved since it can show Park is serious about breaking with the past.
Saenuri chief Hwang Woo-yea and Ahn Dae-hee, a former Supreme Court justice and current head of the party's political reforms special committee, had openly asked the foundation's chairman Choi Phil-lip to step down to end the controversy, but Choi has refused.
Hwang said that suspicions of irregularities in regards to the foundation and Park's past role as its chairwoman from 1994 through 2005, have already been carefully screened by past liberal administrations and Seoul's school board.
Choi stirred fresh controversy when it was revealed he held secret talks to sell off the foundation's holdings in a newspaper and TV station. The proceeds from the sale of the newspaper in Busan was earmarked to create a fund to help people in the port city and the neighboring South Gyeongsang Province.
The standoff, moreover, caused parliamentary audits underway at the National Assembly's Culture and Tourism Committee to be halted.
The DUP has insisted on calling in the Jeongsu Foundation chief to answer questions, but this has been vetoed by Saenuri lawmakers.
Political pundits, meanwhile, said efforts to agree on a single candidate to represent the opposition camp are making slow progress, with Moon and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo failing to see eye-to-eye on how to resolve their outstanding differences.
"The situation has been snagged because the DUP is fueling concerns that an independent candidate cannot effectively rule even if he is elected, while Ahn has said that the opposition party is failing to correctly see public demand for sweeping change," an observer said.
Rep. Lee Nak-yon, a co-chairman for Moon's election camp, predicted that while Ahn has not responded to calls for a single candidate, he will have no choice but to do so by the end of October.
Others like Jin Sung-joo, Moon's campaign spokesman, expressed frustration and said it is hard to determine Ahn's stance on this critical issue.
Polls have consistently shown that if both Moon and Ahn complete the race, they will lose to Park, who has the strong support of conservatives and the older generation.
The DUP on Sunday asked Ahn to join the party and jointly form a political reform committee that can help address the public's aversion to parties and politicians.
Local pollsters said all three major candidates are currently running neck-and-neck, with Park making modest gains after she took hits last month over controversial remarks on her views of history and incidents of corruption involving party members.
Seoul-based survey firm Research and Research said in a hypothetical two-way race, Park is ahead 46.4 percent to 44.7 percent for Moon, while she leads 46.5 percent to 44.7 percent for Ahn. (Yonhap)