Police launch probe into mail threats against former ruling party chief

Park Geun-hye, a leading member of the ruling party who is often critical of the president, recently received letters threatening physical attacks on her for opposing the Lee Myung-bak government`s bid to revise a plan for a new administrative city, police said Tuesday, according to Yonhap News.

Police said they have launched an investigation to hunt down who wrote the letters, after one of Park`s secretaries reported she received two such threats, on Nov. 23 and 27.

Park is President Lee`s biggest political rival, formerly serving as chairperson of the ruling Grand National Party and competing against him for the party`s presidential ticket. She has fought against the Lee administration`s plan to change the administrative town, named Sejong City, into a business and science hub. The city, about 160 km south of Seoul, is still under construction.

She has repeatedly urged Lee to stick to the original government plan to move a dozen ministries and agencies from Seoul to Sejong, located in South Chungcheong Province, in the central part of the country.

"Why do you adamantly stick to your opinion against the government`s revision plan for Sejong City? I will not tolerate your further obstinacy," reads one of the typed letters, according to police. The letters also contained more extreme expressions, they added.