[Editorial] Any Evidence For Your Allegations?

The accusation war between the Grand National Party (GNP) and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) has crossed the line. Two parties have accused each other regarding the allegation that GNP’s presidential candidate Lee’s sons’ alleged evasion of military service. The GNP has threatened to move for impeachment of President, defining the issue a tactic by the MDP to smear candidate Lee’s reputation. In response, the MDP accused that the GNP was committing a collective suicide bombing. The MDP has been shelling the GNP every day, raising the suspicion of Lee’s wife’s involvement.

In its counterattack, the GNP asserts that a MDP’s powerful figure is behind what Kim Dae-up has done so far, and that the congressman has given large sums of money to Kim for the political manipulation.

In a nutshell, all the two parties have contended are empty allegations. They have not produced any hard evidence supporting their contentions. It is worrisome to think of how each of the party should react when the allegations turn out to be ungrounded.

The evasion allegation is not a new issue. It popped up in July of 1997 and functioned as a decisive factor in the presidential election at the end of that year. And then, the issue has emerged again just 5 months prior to the presidential election. That’s why all we get is the feeling that this whole matter is a child of political calculation for the upcoming presidential election.

Regardless of its meaning in politics, we have to get the bottom of it once the issue is raised. The Prosecutors’ Office has begun its investigation in earnest and called in Kim Dea-up yesterday. But the GNP does not trust the prosecutors’ team in charge of this case, citing the “improper relationship’ between the team and Kim, which traces its origin back to the past prosecution of this same matter. To shake off this doubt, all the Prosecution has to do is keep absolute, political neutrality and perform a thorough investigation.

Once the Prosecution has begun to investigate, the two parties should refrain from making accusations. They seem to be risking their political lives even when the presidential election is far away. How would it get uglier when it gets deep into the elections scheduled near the end of this year? We the public will wait and see how fair the prosecution will be.