WASHINGTON ― Just hours after touching down in Washington for summit talks, a presidential official lambasted an opposition lawmaker Tuesday for alleging fraud in the 2012 presidential election.

Chief presidential press secretary Kim Sung-woo, accompanying President Park Geun-hye on her four-day U.S. trip, offered an impromptu briefing to the accompanying media some three hours after arrival.

He slammed Rep. Kang Dong-won of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy for suggesting that the vote count for the presidential race was rigged.

“This is a defamation against the president and the people,” Kim said, demanding Kang’s apology and follow-up measures from the NPAD.

“While it has only been several hours since President Park has embarked on an overseas trip for national interests, there was an accusation by the opposition lawmaker back home that the presidential election could have been corrupted. This is a very serious issue,” he said.

The previous day, Kang had claimed during a parliamentary interpellation session that the previous presidential race “will be recorded as a disorderly election more vicious than the rigged election of former president Syngman Rhee.” He was referring to alleged political interference by the National Intelligence Service during the campaign. Some NPAD members have often compared the 2012 election to the rigged election carried out under the Rhee administration in 1960 to extend his presidency.

Their tit-for-tat came on the heels of an intensifying ideological battle back home following the government’s decision to reinstate state-authored history textbooks for secondary education.

The National Election Commission also joined the fray by refuting Kang’s argument by detailing how the vote was counted and claimed such allegations seriously harmed the organization’s dignity.

The ruling Saenuri Party immediately followed suit and reported Kang to the National Assembly’s ethics committee.

NPAD leader Rep. Moon Jae-in refused to comment further, saying, “The party has made its position clear by stating the day before that it was the opinion of an individual.”

By Cho Chung-un, Korea Herald correspondent

(christory@heraldcorp.com)