Saenuri hits liberals for 'boring' debate

Ruling Saenuri Party floor leader Lee Han-koo holds a book about collusion between the late former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, recommending it to the party lawmakers at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

The ruling Saenuri Party on Thursday spoke dismissively of a televised debate between two opposition presidential candidates a day earlier, describing it as boring and uninformative.

“It was so disappointing. All of their questions and answers were ambiguous. They tried to accommodate each other and avoid attacks,” said Park Seon-kyu, a spokesman for the election campaign of Park Geun-hye, the party’s standard bearer.

The liberal candidates, Democrat Moon Jae-in and independent Ahn Cheol-soo, held the late night debate as part of their process to decide which of them will become the unified liberal candidate to stand against Park. The two appeared reluctant to criticize each other because of their plan to join forces.

The Saenuri spokesman, during a press briefing at the party’s headquarters in Seoul, claimed the debate did not live up to public expectations, saying it did not sufficiently examine the candidates’ credentials.

“The two failed to give the public a chance to evaluate their pledges. When one held a different view from the other, as they did on inter-Korean relations, they just gave a simple explanation, rather than vigorously arguing the pros and cons,” he said.

This view was echoed by another spokesman, Ahn Hyung-hwan, who claimed “We could hardly identify their individual abilities, experience and knowledge distinguishing them as presidential candidates.”

Meanwhile, experts mostly gave Moon higher marks than Ahn for appearing to be more engaged.

“Moon displayed his confidence and enthusiasm but Ahn just responded to Moon and didn’t lead the debate. He refrained from attacking,” said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher from the Korea Opinion Society Institute (KOSI).

Political commentator Park Sang-hun, shared a similar view but added, “Ahn was not that bad either considering that it was his first televised debate.”

Netizens were at odds over the issue. Supporters of Moon said his experience as former chief of staff under Roh Moo-hyun gave him an edge. Those backing Ahn said he struck an emotional chord when he asserted that incompetence among politicians resulted in the recent bus strikes that were aborted after a brief walk-out but caused considerable alarm amongst commuters.

The debate recorded an 18.8 percent audience rating, according to AGB Nielsen Media Research, some 12 percent lower than that recorded by a 2002 TV debate between Roh, then a presidential candidate, and Chung Mong-joon.

Analysts attributed the lower numbers to the 11:10 p.m. broadcast time ― the Roh-Chung debate aired at 7 p.m.

The candidates initially announced that their debate was to be aired at 10 p.m. but this scheduling

was abruptly changed Wednesday afternoon.

Regarding the matter, Jin Sung-joon, a Democratic United Party spokesman, claimed that the state-run broadcaster made the change in an effort to help Park Geun-hye and that a high-level KBS executive was involved in the action.

KBS fired back, arguing that it did not give its consent to the initial plan.