Pres. candidate quits race, but pockets gov`t subsidies

Candidate Lee Jung-hee of the minor opposition United Progressive Party on Sunday dropped out of the presidential race and snubbed appearing on the third round of a TV debate. She told a news conference, “I resign for a change in power.” A source from her camp said, however, “(This implies) her support to Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the (main opposition) Democratic United Party.”

Lee`s party received more than 2.73 billion won (2.55 million U.S. dollars) in government subsidies when it registered her on the list of presidential candidates. Selecting a unified candidate representing the opposition camp for a change in power cannot justify the party pocketing of the funds and running away. Lee is impudent if compared with Shim Sang-jung, former presidential candidate of the minor opposition Progressive Justice Party who broke with Lee`s party. Shim quit the race before registering as a candidate for fear of controversy over “taking the subsidy and running away.” In the first two TV debates, Lee said, “I’m here to make Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party lose the race” but turned a deaf ear to the subsidy controversy. Lee simply took advantage of a law that does not require a party to return the subsidies even if its candidate drops out of the race.

With the United Progressive Party for the April 11 general elections this year, the Democratic United Party created an alliance of the liberal opposition camp while announcing agreements on policies including the abolition of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement and a stop to the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island. The main opposition party overturned what former leaders Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun used to win the presidency. As the alliance failed in the general elections, the United Progressive Party got mired in a corruption scandal and the Democratic United Party tried to distance itself from the former. Moon`s camp denies having a rapport with its former partner in advance, but expects Lee’s withdrawal could be the difference in the neck-and-neck election race. The ruling party claims that Lee’s support for Moon restarted a pro-North Korea alliance.

The 1 percent of voters who support Lee will either back Moon or snub voting. Yet swing voters who supported Ahn Cheol-soo, a former independent candidate, could frown on Lee’s endorsement of Moon. Ahn said, “I embrace both rational conservatives and moderate liberals.” He seems to imply that he is not associated with Lee’s extreme pro-North Korea group,” but should clearly state his stance instead of simply saying he is ideologically different from Moon.