By Jun Ji-hye
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon proposed Monday a bipartisan approach aimed at preventing the recurrence of the Sewol tragedy.
“I expect the ruling Saenuri Party candidate to give a positive reaction to my suggestion,” said Park, who is making his re-election bid for the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD).
The ferry with 476 passengers on board sank on April 16, and still controls the nation’s narrative.
The ruling party is in hot water but it may not mean an absolute gain for Park. He had to apologize for a subway collision, which injured 246 people on May 2.
He also attempted to differentiate himself from existing politicians, saying “I will say goodbye to the old style of campaigning.”
“I will conduct my election bid with the spontaneous participation of citizens, rather than using power to mobilize people,” Park said. “I will meet every citizen in person to listen to them.”
Emphasizing the need to look after the sadness and despair of families and relatives of the dead and the missing from the sunken ferry disaster, Park also proposed that rival candidates refrain from noisy and negative campaigning.
The remarks apparently referred to mutual slandering by seven-term lawmaker Chung Mong-joon and former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, both hopefuls of the governing camp.
While firing criticism at each other, Chung filed complaint against Kim for illegal election campaigning, which he withdrew last week amid falling approval ratings for both.
Park indirectly criticized them, saying, “False propaganda and slander against rival candidates just stain the electioneering culture of the nation.”
“Candidates should stop spending enormous amount of money in campaigning as well,” he added.
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