They Said Let's Not Do It... But the Presidential Race Is Now a '24-Hour Negative Campaign'

Only Candidates Refrain, Staff Clash Among Themselves
Won Heeryong Posts 78 Criticism Articles on Lee Jaemyung
Ruling Party Focuses on Yoon Seokyoul's Mother-in-Law Allegations

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] As the presidential election approaches, the negative offensive intensity between the two major parties is escalating to extremes. Although the candidates themselves are refraining from criticizing other candidates, their aides are taking the 'battlefield' on their behalf, launching attacks and defenses every moment.

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party and a 'helper' of presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, criticized suspicions surrounding Kim Hye-kyung, the spouse of Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, on YTN radio on the 9th, saying, "Unless one is out of their mind, how could they use memorial food, Korean beef," pointing to "personal misuse." Recently, he has been sending critical messages toward candidate Lee through the media and social networking services (SNS). On the 8th, Lee personally commented on a post by candidate Lee declaring support from the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, criticizing it by saying, "The fundamental respect for labor is to eradicate acts that force public officials to perform tasks they cannot do based on personnel authority."

Furthermore, Won Hee-ryong, head of the policy headquarters of the election campaign, launched an offensive on a 'minute-by-minute' basis. Over the past week, Director Won posted a total of 78 posts related to candidate Lee and his spouse Kim Hye-kyung on SNS. The intervals between posts were as short as 10 minutes. He pointed out various issues including allegations of Kim’s misuse of corporate cards, family-related controversies, as well as candidate Lee’s pledges, actions, and statements. Examples include phrases like "He preemptively speaks about his own secrets as if they were someone else's to create a smokescreen" and "Lupin is a thief."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Democratic Party has recently focused its offensive on the opposition by raising suspicions about candidate Yoon’s military service exemption and his mother-in-law Choi’s speculation allegations. Choi Kang-wook, co-chairman of the Democratic campaign committee, criticized at the central campaign meeting on the 9th, saying, "At some point, candidate Yoon and his camp stopped talking about fairness and common sense," and added, "The candidate himself should be ashamed before the people for various abuses of power, his wife’s falsification of academic background and career, and his mother-in-law’s illegal activities."

The day before, Yang Bu-nam, head of the legal support team for public verification of the campaign, held a press conference mentioning candidate Yoon’s exemption from military service due to 'amblyopia,' arguing, "As the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the presidential candidate’s military service issue must be free of any suspicion." Kim Byung-gi, standing head of the current affairs response task force, also pointed out at a press conference on the same day that the real estate owned by candidate Yoon’s in-laws is estimated to be about 190,000 pyeong.

During the comprehensive questioning session of the Budget and Accounts Special Committee held on the 7th and 8th, lawmakers from the People Power Party focused their offensive by raising suspicions related to Kim. Democratic Party lawmakers responded with verification of candidate Yoon, including a recorded conversation in which Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, said, "Yoon Seok-yeol is dead if it’s a card his brother holds." Negative-style commentaries from both sides are also pouring out daily. The People Power Party mentions "Kim’s excessive protocol suspicions," while the Democratic Party refers to "TV debate cancellation" and "Daejang-dong suspicions," exchanging offensives toward each candidate.

Regarding the negative competition in politics, Park Sang-chul, a professor at Kyonggi University Graduate School of Policy, said, "As the election nears the final stage, both parties probably judged that they must engage in negativity," adding, "Negativity can be a kind of strategy, but if the offensive firepower is excessively focused on, the candidate’s vision may not be visible. What matters is what can be shown."

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