Deepening row stimulates otherwise dull primary


The feud between the ruling Saenuri Party presidential frontrunner Park Geun-hye and runner-up Kim Moon-soo is heating up, adding spice to the otherwise dull primary race in its final week.

Gyeonggi Gov. Kim has been escalating his negative campaign against former chairwoman Park recently, which observers view may be an attempt to solidify his No. 2 place in the party.

The Saenuri Party is set to elect its final presidential candidate at a national caucus next Monday.

“Wouldn’t the public laugh at us if we only praise Park as being the frontrunner?” Kim said to a question during a television debate on Sunday on whether he thought his attacks on Park would be helpful to the party.

Taking a step further, Kim’s campaign team distributed a booklet containing lists of Park’s past statements made during the 2007 primary race when she was competing against then-candidate President Lee Myung-bak.

“The attacks made by Park against Lee were far worse than what we anti-Park contenders are making against her,” the team said.

Kim’s camp even made an inquiry with the party’s election committee on whether it was in violation of party regulations that many of Park’s campaign team members were not or belatedly registered as party members. Park’s camp later said the committee confirmed there was no problem.

Observers said Kim’s attacks may be intended to solidify his position in the party post-Park.

“It is only natural for politicians in realistic politics to take actions based on their practical interests,” said political professor Yoon Pyung-joong at Hanshin University.

Kim has been one of the three major dissenters that challenged Park earlier by demanding an overhaul of the primary rules. While the other two ― Reps. Lee Jae-oh and Chung Mong-joon ― stepped out of the race after their demands were shunned, Kim decided to continue on.

Whatever Kim’s intention may be, the elevated offensives are also helping the otherwise dull primary predominated by Park to gain wider public attention, the political watchers said.

“Aside from whatever advantages and disadvantages Kim’s moves will have on himself, his actions could be helping Park down the road by giving her due challenge against her unrivaled dominance that voters may eventually question,” Yoon said.

Meanwhile, Park’s camp which had initially looked unflustered began to take action by demanding last Friday that the party’s election committee restrain Kim from making controversial remarks and campaign ads featuring Park. Kim for instance featured pictures of Park with controversial party members currently involved in the cash-for-nomination scandal in his ad.

The committee later in the day decided to advise both camps to refrain from making any ungrounded allegations.

Park has been at a comfortable lead throughout the primary with her support rating standing at a sturdy 37.2 percent according to the latest polls by Realmeter on Aug. 6-10 of 3,750 respondents. Although quite distanced from Park, Kim has been spearheading the underdogs with 2.4 percent.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)