President Moon's Busan visit hit for election meddling
President Moon Jae-in, accompanied by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leadership as well as relevant Cabinet members and municipal governors, visits the site of the proposed Gadeok Airport on Busan's Gadeok Island, Feb. 25. Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
The rival parties are wrangling over President Moon Jae-in's visit last week to the site of an envisioned airport that has emerged as a controversial topic in the run-up to the Busan mayoral by-election scheduled for April 7. The Moon government has sought to materialize a plan ahead of the election to build a new airport on Busan's Gadeok Island.
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) claimed the project is merely an attempt to help the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) woo voters by diverting their attention from the DPK's tarnished image in the port city.
The mayoral by-elections in Busan and in Seoul are both the result of sexual harassment allegations against the former mayors.
The disgraced former mayors ― Oh Keo-don of Busan and Park Won-soon of Seoul ― both belonged to the DPK. Oh stepped down over sexual harassment allegations last year, and Park committed suicide apparently after hearing about allegations against him later the same year.
An aerial view of the site of the proposed airport on Busan's Gadeok Island / Korea Times file
In candidate favorability polls for the April 7 by-elections, the DPK is in a tight race against the PPP in Seoul but lags behind in Busan.
Against this backdrop, the DPK said Moon's visit to the new Gadeok Airport site, Feb. 25, has nothing do with the Busan mayoral by-election. It said the President rather went there “to inspect whether the policies for balanced development nationwide are being implemented.”
The President promised to offer support for a joint initiative between local governments in southwestern Korea, namely Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province, to form a communal socio-economic “megacity” sphere for long-term regional prosperity.
“And any act of obstruction against the President's visit is an anti-constitutional act that should result in a filed legal complaint,” DPK spokesman Huh Young said, Feb. 27.
Huh referred to an argument raised by PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young that Moon's Busan trip was an abuse of power and also was in violation of the Election Law.
“We urge the PPP to stop immediately an act that goes against balanced nationwide development. It will only divide the nation and the people,” Huh said.
The PPP criticized the DPK for “having an endless, blatant greed to win the by-elections” and calling the President's visit “apparent election meddling.”
“No President ever took his Cabinet members and ruling party leadership with him to an electoral area ahead of an election,” Yoon said.
Moon was accompanied by DPK Chairman Lee Nak-yon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Byeon Chang-heum, Busan Acting Mayor Lee Byung-jin, Ulsan Mayor Song Chul-so and South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo.
The DPK-dominated National Assembly passed a bill, Feb. 26, to establish a special law governing the construction of the new airport.
The special law was designed to expedite the project by allowing the government to skip a preliminary feasibility survey and to have the construction financed by the government.