Political mudslinging

Political mudslinging

Blackmail claim should be thoroughly investigated In a prelude to the fierce battle before the Dec. 19 presidential election, aides to the leading presidential candidate and her potential close rival traded barbs for the first time Thursday. Keum Tae-sup, a lawyer who now serves as an aide to software mogul-turned-scholar Ahn Cheol-soo, claimed that an official with the ruling Saenuri Party threatened to divulge dirty secrets about Ahn, including an extramarital affair, if he declares his candidacy for president. At a news conference, Keum said that Jeong Jun-gil, a public relations official from the election campaign of Park Geun-hye, the governing party’s candidate, called him early Tuesday morning and urged him to persuade Ahn not to run for the presidency. Keum said Jeong also threatened to disclose a bribery scandal implicating Ahn. But Jeong immediately denied Keum’s allegations as groundless, arguing he was quoted out of context and that the phone call was nothing more than a chat between friends. The two studied law together at Seoul National University. ``Keum and I have been friends for 20 years so I informed him of rumors circulating in the town. I just speculated that if Ahn enters the race, these things will come out and Saenuri will have no other choice but to raise the suspicions,’’ Jeong said, adding that Keum was clearly exaggerating his remarks and spinning them as evidence of attempted blackmail. At this point, we are not prepared to judge which side is right because their allegations conflict in many respects, but what’s clear is that Jeong acted carelessly. Since Keum and Jeong belong to rival election camps, the latter’s comments, especially on circulating rumors, could be interpreted as a threat to Ahn who has not announced his official bid yet. Therefore, it is necessary to get to the bottom of this incident, regardless of the real intention of Jeong’s remarks. If he is found to have made threatening comments during the phone conversation, the Saenuri Party should apologize to Ahn, the 50-year-old dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University, and the people and take measures to prevent similar incidents. Given that the Ahn camp tried to portray the phone call as a threat from the Park campaign, it seems almost certain that he will throw his hat into the ring sooner or later. Noteworthy is that Keum raised the possibility that police or other intelligence agencies may have provided the ruling party with information obtained through illegal surveillance, citing the way Jeong made the comments. If his suspicions turn out to be true, it will become a grave issue that could shake the whole presidential election. However, considering that Keum didn’t suggest any grounds for his suspicions, he may have gone too far. The Saenuri Party raised suspicions that the Ahn camp may have exaggerated light conversation between friends to divert attention from details of the IT mogul’s past that have surfaced recently. We don’t know the truth at this moment but Ahn, the founder of local anti-virus software company AhnLab, and his aides should know that verifying presidential candidates is certainly a necessary process to satisfy the people’s right to know and help voters make the right choice in the president poll. Nevertheless, verifications should not degrade into indiscriminate mudslinging or unfounded slander. Now voters hope to see the candidates face off over policies, particularly on how to let ordinary people live peacefully and safely.