Ruling and Opposition Parties Heated Up 'Candidate Verification Team'... Born Amid 2007 Calls for 'Lee Myung-bak Verification'

Introduction Amid Verification Disputes Over Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak
Controversies Over Negative Campaign Overheating and Inadequate Verification

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol and Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Ahead of next year's presidential election, the topic of a 'candidate verification team' has come to the forefront. As various controversies arose surrounding Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province from the ruling party, and Yoon Seok-youl, former Prosecutor General from the opposition, voices calling for verification of candidates with moral or other flaws have grown louder.

The People Power Party announced that the party leadership would step in to organize a candidate verification team as negative attacks against some candidates began. However, controversy over neutrality has arisen regarding former lawmaker Kim Jin-tae, who was nominated as the head of the team, due to his past role as a critic of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. In response, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, rebutted, saying, "Other candidates also have various connections with former lawmaker Kim. For example, former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min was considered a traitor by Kim."

There was also criticism that the party leadership's decision to form the candidate verification team as an organization directly under the party leader's office, rather than under the existing primary election preparation committee, was an act of unilateral decision-making. On the 4th, People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' and raised concerns about the verification team, stating, "It has never been established directly under the party leader. It was set up after listening to the candidates' opinions. The party did not make a unilateral decision without hearing the candidates' views." In response, Leader Lee denied this, saying, "It means it will be an independent organization, not that I will control it."

Within the Democratic Party, which started the presidential primary earlier, calls for establishing a separate verification body among candidates have also grown. This was aimed at allegations of repeated drunk driving by Governor Lee, who is effectively the frontrunner. However, the party leadership stated that "a separate verification team is not necessary" regarding the establishment of such a team.

The candidate verification body was introduced by the Grand National Party in the 2007 presidential election. At that time, the verification battles between candidates Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye intensified ahead of the election.

Back then, controversy continued over the necessity and the entity responsible for verification. When former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min from Park's camp advocated for the need to verify former President Lee, former lawmaker Jung Doo-un from Lee's camp countered, saying, "The process of selecting a presidential candidate itself is a process of verifying the candidate's qualifications and abilities," and "It is disrespectful to the public and the media for a specific candidate's camp to conduct direct verification or demand verification from the media."

After further discussion, the Grand National Party's presidential primary preparation organization, the 'National Victory Committee,' formed a candidate verification committee under the National Victory Committee. The verification committee was responsible for receiving various reports related to presidential candidates, verifying related materials, and hearing explanations to investigate suspicions related to the candidates. In particular, the committee focused on verifying materials related to moral allegations against candidate Lee, which had been raised by candidate Park.

At that time, the verification committee also went through consent procedures with each candidate. Upon the committee's launch, Lee Sa-cheol, spokesperson for the National Victory Committee, briefed that "all representatives of each candidate agreed to the formation and operation methods of the verification organization."

However, the verification committee lacked the authority and investigative power to secure cooperation from both candidates, leading to controversy over 'inadequate verification.' Kang Jae-seop, then leader of the Grand National Party, said in a media interview, "Even if the verification committee tries to investigate properly, the candidates are reluctant to submit any materials," indicating that the verification work was not proceeding effectively. Moreover, contrary to its founding purpose, negative campaigning intensified.

For this presidential election as well, verification battles surrounding candidates such as former Prosecutor General Yoon and Governor Lee are expected to intensify further. Within the Democratic Party, the level of negative campaigning between Governor Lee and former party leader Lee Nak-yeon is increasing, and within the People Power Party, party candidates have entered a mode of checking 'recruited candidates' like former Prosecutor General Yoon and former Director Choi. Regarding this, Yoon's spokesperson Yoon Hee-seok said, "Criticism from other candidates has become overheated, and there are many parts to clarify," adding, "The primary has not even started yet, so we do not intend to respond to each issue individually."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.