Presidential candidates are running low on campaign funds for the December election as a law aimed at preventing corrupt links between politicians and businessmen is scaling down their ability to raise money.
The country's election law was revamped three years ago as several key campaign managers of then presidential hopefuls of the 2002 election were jailed for taking illegal slush funds from businesses.
The law bans campaign managers from fundraising directly from non-party members while allowing some donations from political supporters and state coffers.
Lee Hoi-chang, then candidate of the major opposition Grand National Party, apologized at that time for tens of billions of won (tens of millions of dollars) his party had received in two "truckloads" of hard cash.
President Roh Moo-hyun also apologized after prosecutors accused several of his key aides of taking more than 10 billion won in illegal campaign funds from companies during the campaign period.
Fundraisers for campaign managers, however, complain that government funds are not enough to run their massive campaigns, arguing other money-raising options should be available as long as they are legal.
The conservative GNP, whose candidate Lee Myung-bak this year is leading the race with popularity ratings of about 40 percent, has been granted 10 billion won in campaign funds from the government, but laments it's not enough to fill the gap.
"We're having trouble raising funds because party sponsoring organizations have all disappeared," said a GNP official, who declined to be identified. He added the state subsidy falls far short of the 46.5 billion won legal limit the government established for election funds.
Lee Hoi-chang, former GNP standardbearer who last week announced his third straight presidential bid, this time as an independent, is depending solely on his personal assets and loans, his aide said.
Lee, who instantly achieved support ratings of over 20 percent, was forced to change his personnel plans and now intends to run fewer ads, said Kang Sam-jae, a campaign strategist. "We're penniless."
The pro-government United New Democratic Party, whose standardbearer Chung Dong-young is struggling to improve his approximately 10 percent support level, has voiced similar concerns.
"We're essentially running our campaign on credit," said Moon Hak-jin, a campaign director. Moon said his party has formally asked its 140 lawmakers to borrow 30 million won from financial organizations so the loans can be funneled into the race.
"Half of them have already passed their credit limit," he said.
(Yonhap)