[Editorial] Negative Campaign Tactics

The Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office tasked with the Seoul Central District Court investigation into leaked information about presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak (requested by the Grand National Party [GNP]) and the libel case of Kim Jae-jeong, Mr. Lee’s brother-in-law, handed down a decision yesterday. The decision demonstrates that prosecutors will step up their measures against political slander as investigations into accusations by political parties and camps increase.

The GNP made an accusation against Uri Party lawmakers Kim Hyeok-gyu and Kim Jong-ryul, who raised suspicions of Mr. Lee’s involvement in “financial fraud and real estate speculation through a false residency registration.” In this particular case, the key is to find out where the related information came from and how it was obtained. There remains a high possibility of illegality if insiders or the national intelligence agency gathered information about certain people with political intentions and handed it to opposing political parties, or if they deliberately leaked the information to the media.

Based on the investigation results, this event could turn out to be an anti-democratic crime implicating members of the political circle, public servants, and some members of the media.

Prosecutors launched a swift investigation into a libel case filed by Kim Jae-jeong against Kyunghyang Newspaper and allies of presidential candidate Park Geun-hye. This movement hinted that prosecutors cannot sit on the sidelines as suspicions swirl in an election.

Using this opportunity, prosecutors should crack down on groundless revelations or political involvement in elections by intelligence agency personnel. To this end, they need to clearly disclose how evidence is obtained and hold people responsible for any illegal acts. They should deal with investigations as soon as possible so that voters can make the right decisions. As investigation results can influence the result of a presidential election, prosecutors should handle matters based on the law and get to the bottom of cases without being swayed by anyone.

Meanwhile, there must be something going wrong as rumors from the ruling party have it that Prosecutor General Jeong Sang-myeong, whose term is four months away from expiration, might be replaced. Such a replacement would backfire as it could undermine hopes for a fair investigation and could influence the presidential election.