Indie candidate Ahn seeks to win over pro-Roh forces

Independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo on Wednesday met former First Lady Kwon Yang-sook, the widow of former President Roh Moo-hyun, in Roh`s hometown of Bongha village near Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, then visited his hometown of Busan.

This was Ahn’s first visit to Roh`s grave. He arrived at 12:10 p.m. and wrote in the guestbook, “You loved people. I’ll never forget your sincerity.”

Ahn’s visits to Bongha and Busan were apparently aimed at wooing both pro-Roh supporters, who strongly back Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party, and residents of Busan. The city is considered the home turf of the ruling Saenuri Party.

Ahn stayed at the grave for about 10 minutes then went to Roh’s home to talk with Kwon for 40 minutes. Ahn spent twice as long with Kwon than Saenuri`s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye.

Park wrote nothing in the guestbook, with her camp saying, “There was no guestbook there at the time.”

According to Ahn’s spokesman, the former IT guru told Kwon, “I had the chance to meet Roh a few months before his inauguration. President Roh was trying to persuade me to chair a committee for supporting the presidential candidate (in the 2002 election), but he later said after reading my book, ‘I can’t let you take the job. You must be stressed out.’ We then had a casual talk.”

Ahn was invited to Roh’s inauguration as a representative of the people. When Roh died in May 2009, Ahn said, Ahn`s wife and daughter paid their respects to him after waiting for hours.

Kwon then told Ahn, “You’re doing a good job. Stay healthy and do your best." After the conversation, she showed Ahn her yard and home. Before leaving, Ahn told her goodbye and said, “I’ll come here again.”

In a meeting with reporters later, Ahn said, “Kwon gave me a lot of advice on a politician`s family. I said Roh was a truly warm-hearted person and sincere to the people.”

The presidential candidate then visited his alma mater Busan High School and met the staff of the Busan International Film Festival, which opens next month. He spent the night at his parents’ place.

Busan also is the hometown Ahn`s rival candidate Moon. Ahn might have visited Korea`s largest port city before the Chuseok holidays to give people the impression that he represents Busan.

Busan is expected to be the first battleground between Moon and Ahn in the opposition`s bid to field a unified presidential candidate after the holidays.

Ahn was escorted by 10 security guards, including a senior police officer. Park has 20 and Moon 15.

Discussing policies in the forum “Naeil (Tomorrow)” of Think Network, Ahn said, “We’ll release our roadmap on policies around Chuseok and national visions in October.”

His group of experts included figures from the “New Democratic Plan,” which the now-defunct Democratic Party tried to release as representing “central reformism beyond conservatism and liberalism” in 2009 and 2010. They were professor Kim Ho-gi of Yonsei University and professor Goh Won of Seoul National University of Technology, who lead the Political Reform Forum, and professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam University, who participates in the Foreign Affairs, Security and Unification Policy Network Forum.

“Embracing growth” as Ahn mentioned in the forum Tuesday was the message used in the New Democratic Plan.

leon@donga.com dnsp@donga.com