Rival parties launch counterattacks on opposing candidates


Rival parties escalated attacks Monday against each other over the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation and the Northern Limit Line controversies, both demanding parliamentary probes.

The main opposition Democratic United Party ripped into the reported backdoor discussions involving the foundation formerly run by the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye to help her campaign in Busan.

The ruling party, in turn, claimed that DUP presidential candidate Rep. Moon Jae-in was using the Jeongsu case to distract attention away from the alleged renouncement of the de-facto maritime border with North Korea by former President Roh Moo-hyun.

The watershed moment is expected to be this Wednesday, when the DUP, which had initially indicated the possibility of boycotting the audit session, will decide how to tackle the Jeongsu controversy.

“If there is to be a (hearing on the case), Park Geun-hye should also appear (for questioning) as she had received hundreds of billions of won of monthly pay (from the foundation),” said DUP floor leader Park Jie-won in a radio interview.

News reports over the weekend said that Jeongsu and MBC colluded over a plan to cash in the foundation’s equity holdings in Busan Ilbo newspaper and MBC television and use the proceeds for underprivileged people in Busan. The DUP denounced the plan as a ploy to help Park’s presidential campaign in the politically sought-after region.

“Choi Phil-lip, chairman of the board of directors for Jeongsu, MBC president Kim Jae-cheol and MBC chief of planning Lee Jin-sook must appear on the witness stand at the audit session,” said Rep. Choi Jae-cheon, head of the DUP members belonging to the Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. DUP members of the committee also visited the Jeongsu Foundation office in Jung-gu, Seoul in protest.

The allegation is considered a golden opportunity for the DUP in the lead up to the Dec. 19 presidential election, targeting Park’s weakest link and resurrecting the debate over the on-going internal strife over the pro-government MBC chief.

Jeongsu, named after Park’s father and authoritarian leader Park Chung-hee and first lady Yook Young-su, was built on confiscated wealth of a businessman during the senior Park’s rule. Park Geun-hye ran the foundation from 1999 until 2005.

As controversy persisted, Park reiterated her position that she now has nothing to do with the foundation.

“Neither the opposition party nor I have the right to tell them this or that when (the foundation) is saying they wish to do some good for the local development,” Park told reporters.

Burdened by Park’s lingering association with the scholarship through Choi, who was a close confidant to Park Chung-hee, the Saenuri Party has also been calling for Choi to step down voluntarily. Jeongsu holds 30 percent of the MBC stakes, 100 percent of the Busan Ilbo shares, and a 1,385-square-meter plot in downtown Seoul where the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper building is located.

“It is unfathomable to think they would use the money as pork-barreling for Park in a certain region,” Park Jie-won said.

The Saenuri Party shot back that the DUP was channeling outdated politics and demanded a clarification about the alleged NLL-related comments by Roh during the 2007 inter-Korean summit.

“Because Moon Jae-in was a person who had better knowledge of the situation than anyone at the time (as Roh’s chief of staff), he must let the people know of the truth, and respond to a parliamentary investigation instead of simply shunning it,” said the Saenuri Party’s chairman Hwang Woo-yea at the party’s meeting.

The Saenuri Party’s supreme councilor Chung Woo-taik agreed and said, “A parliamentary investigation is inevitable because this debate is serious as it is relevant to the nation’s security and protection of land.”

Last week, Saenuri lawmaker Chung Moon-hun claimed that Roh had pledged to nullify the NLL during an undisclosed conversation with then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The NLL was drawn in August, 1953 for the stable management of the cease-fire treaty by then United Nations Commander Mark Clark and his aides. North Korea, which had minimal naval power at the time, only began protesting the NLL in 1973, according to the Defense Ministry. Tension escalates around the NLL especially in the peak crab season.

In retort, Moon’s aides argued that the conservative party’s demand was an attempt to galvanize the votes by using the North Korean issue. They also said the accusation would be clarified once the National Intelligence Service or the Unification Ministry confirms whether there is any separate record of an exclusive closed-door meeting between Roh and the then-North Korean leader.

Moon’s camp is also considering filing several charges, including for defamation, against Chung after necessary legal reviews.

Left out in the line of fire, independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo’s camp took Moon’s side, maintaining that an attempt to dole out money for specific beneficiaries by selling the foundation’s stake at a sensitive time was unjust. Ahn’s camp also criticized the Saenuri Party for using the NLL for politicking.

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