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[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The People Power Party's leadership election has seen intensified 'negative (black propaganda)' battles against rival candidates through joint speeches and TV debates. Candidate Kim Ki-hyun is being attacked over allegations of 'speculation around the Ulsan KTX station area,' candidate Ahn Cheol-soo is targeted for having '(Deobureo) Minjudang DNA,' and candidate Cheon Ha-ram faces controversy as 'Lee Jun-seok's avatar.' The party's 'ban on negative campaigning' seems ineffective. In fact, negative attacks against rival candidates have been a staple during leadership elections regardless of party affiliation.

On the 17th, Kim's camp stated, "At the Gwangju·Jeonnam·Jeonbuk joint speech, Ahn's allegations of real estate speculation against Kim were clear slander, black propaganda, and personal attacks," and demanded strict action from the party's election management committee. Ahn had raised suspicions during the joint speech that the price of forest land near the KTX Ulsan station, purchased by Kim in 1998, surged 1,800 times due to changes in the station area connecting road routes. This allegation was also exposed in 2021 by Yang Yi-won-young, a Democratic Party lawmaker, when Kim was the floor leader of the People Power Party.

Kim also employed a reverse negative tactic by calling Ahn 'Minjudang DNA.' He pointed out that Ahn was a founding member of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the predecessor of the Democratic Party. Due to Ahn's history of founding and merging parties such as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the People's Party, and the Bareunmirae Party, he has often faced attacks regarding his 'identity.' There were also 'color politics' issues raised about his past remarks that he respected the late Shin Young-bok, a chair professor at Sungkonghoe University.

Candidate Cheon, affiliated with the 'Lee Jun-seok faction,' is being attacked as 'Lee Jun-seok's avatar.' It is claimed that former leader Lee Jun-seok is behind him. Kim also pointed this out during the joint speech, and Kim Young-woo, former lawmaker and campaign committee chairman for Ahn's camp, criticized on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' saying, "He cannot escape Lee's shadow. Even during the broadcast debate, without being asked, he kept saying, 'I am different from Lee Jun-seok,' 'I surpass Lee Jun-seok,' only repeating such remarks."

The party even issued a 'ban on negative campaigning.' Yoo Heung-soo, chairman of the People Power Party's central election management committee, previously urged candidates who passed the preliminary leadership election (cutoff) to "refrain from negative campaigning that pollutes the election." However, since negative attacks against rival candidates have a significant impact on fluctuations in approval ratings rather than competition through policy and vision proposals, it is difficult to resist the temptation.

Negative campaigning has been ongoing at every leadership election. Even without going far back, the candidate primaries of both ruling and opposition parties ahead of the 20th presidential election were close to a 'festival of negativity.' At that time, in the opposition People Power Party, Hong Joon-pyo's camp distributed a list of 25 gaffes and offensive remarks by candidate Yoon Seok-youl, such as "My mother-in-law has never been harmed even by 10 won," and Yoon's camp responded with a 'Hong Joon-pyo offensive remarks list,' including "He dislikes Ewha women."

The situation was similar in the Democratic Party. Candidate Lee Jae-myung said targeting candidate Lee Nak-yon, "There are people who praised Park Chung-hee," and Lee Nak-yon's camp attacked Lee Jae-myung's side, saying, "A senior official of a related organization in Gyeonggi Province operated a negative campaign operation room." There was also a negative verbal battle over Lee Jae-myung's 'Yeongnam reverse discrimination' remark made in Andong, and eventually, Lee Jae-myung's camp declared a truce, saying, "Let's stop the negativity."

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