President Lee Myung-bak said Tuesday he is concerned the intensifying politicking ahead of next week's general elections may have negative effects on state affairs, a remark seen as referring to the worsening standoff over allegations state authorities illegally spied on civilians.
The surveillance scandal has emerged as a central issue ahead of the April 11 polls.
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) has sought to highlight the allegedly immoral nature of the Lee administration over the alleged spying while the presidential office has claimed it was a routine information gathering activity and struck back with revelations that the opposition did the same when it was in power.
The scandal centers on allegations that an ethics team under the Prime Minister's Office, which is in charge of ensuring government officials are not involved in corruption, carried out extensive spying not only on public officials, but also civilians critical of the government.
"The situation is fairly confusing as it is an election year this year, but public officials should maintain balance to make sure state policy tasks will go ahead without being disrupted," Lee said during a Cabinet meeting, according to his spokesman Park Jeong-ha.
"I am very concerned that state affairs may be disrupted amid the confusing situation ahead of elections," Lee was quoted as saying.
The remark was seen as referring to the surveillance scandal, though the spokesman said Lee made no "direct" mention of the standoff.
The ruling Saenuri Party has held both the government and the main opposition DUP accountable while demanding an independent counsel investigation into the scandal. But the DUP has expressed reservations about the proposal, apparently over concerns it may affect its election chances.
On Tuesday, the DUP made a counterproposal that the ruling and opposition parties hold a parliamentary hearing on the scandal after next week's elections and that Lee and ruling party leader Park Geun-hye appear at the hearing as witnesses because Park has claimed that she has also been spied on.
"President Lee should answer who ordered the establishment of the outfit that carried out the surveillance of civilians and whether the results were reported to him and if he ordered a cover-up of such a crime," DUP secretary general Park Sun-sook told reporters.
The ruling party rejected that proposal, renewing its call for a special investigation.
"It is a higher priority to uncover all the facts one by one through an independent counsel investigation," said Rep. Cho Yoon-sun, a spokesperson for the party's election campaign committee. "The people want to know exact facts about the illegal surveillance suspicions." (Yonhap)
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