Leaders exchange tough political attacks as campaign for April elections heat up


Ruling Saenuri Party chief Park Geun-hye went on the attack against the liberal opposition bloc Tuesday, branding it a group threatening national interests with its rigid adherence to outdated ideologies.

“The opposition, sticking to outdated ideologies, is abandoning national interests and causing grave national confusion,” she said, presiding over the first meeting of campaign strategists at the party‘s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.

Park, by framing the April 11 legislative election as “a choice between the past or the future,” countered the liberal opposition bloc’s contention that her party should be held responsible for the “failures of President Lee Myung-bak.” 

She attacked the opposition alliance on ideological grounds, pointing to the Unified Progressive Party’s platform calling for an end to the Korea-U.S. alliance and the dismantlement of chaebol such as Samsung Group.

The UPP is the smaller in the two-party alliance with the main opposition Democratic United Party, which fielded nearly 70 joint candidates nationwide.

“The (DUP), having joined hands with the UPP, is now opposing Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the construction of a naval base on Jeju, both initiated by themselves (while they were in power.)”

“Imagine what would happen if they become the largest bloc in the parliament,” she said. 

The barbed remarks came a day after DUP chairwoman Han Myeong-sook called her “President Lee‘s avatar.”

“Park Geun-hye is not different from Lee (in terms of their policy directions). If Lee was the main driver running the country, Park sat in the back seat,” the opposition leader said.

The opposition party has framed the election as a judgment on both Lee and the ruling Saenuri Party, aiming to capitalize on the public discontent with the incumbent administration amid a yawning rich-poor gap.

Rep. Lee Yong-sub, the DUP’s chief policymaker, said the Saenuri Party was engaging in a smear campaign and mudslinging as the election draws near.

“The Saenuri is resorting to the same old tactic, branding us anti-American leftists, rather than trying to appeal to the voters with good polices,“ he said.

Han also played down the criticism from Saenuri.

”At every election, the Saenuri tries to consolidate conservative voters with ideological accusations. I believe the voters are also well aware of this.“

Polls show that the Saenuri could lose its majority in the country‘s single-chamber parliament, but that the rivals are neck-and-neck.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)