By Andy Jackson
Growing up in America, I had my fair share of experience listening to high school boys (it was always boys for some reason) and college freshmen spouting random quotes from the late German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. One of the most popular is the oft stated: ``That which does not kill me only makes me stronger."
In my experience, that which ``does not kill you'' most definitely sets you up for the final blow. However, it seems Lee Myung-bak might just prove Nietzsche right this time.
Lee's once insurmountable lead over Grand National Party (GNP) rival Park Geun-hye in public opinion polls has gradually shrunken over the past several months under constant attacks from Park. Many polls now have Lee's lead over Park at less than 10 percent with only a month left before the GNP primary.
Park has closed the polling gap, at least in part, by hammering Lee for months over alleged ethical lapses involving fake addresses, stock manipulation and real estate speculation.
Various parts of the government have become involved in bringing up allegations against Lee.
Earlier this year, a report criticizing Lee's idea for a large-scale canal, which was supposedly written for internal use, managed to wind up in the hands of the media.
The source of the leak has been traced to an official with the government-run Korea Water Resources Corporation.
Prosecutors are also investigating how and why an official with the National Intelligence Service accessed the real estate registry of a relative of Lee. Lee has recently been the target of criticism that he used relatives to hide his real estate assets.
We have seen things like this before. During the 2002 election Kim Dae-eop, a noncommissioned officer in the Korean military, said that GNP presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang's wife had bribed military officials to have their son exempted from military service.
He also claimed that military officials had met to discuss how to hide the draft dodging. Some media outlets immediately played up Kim's allegations. The Millennium Democratic Party (forerunner of today's Uri Party and the Centrist United Democratic Party) readily pounced on the allegations as a way to undercut the frontrunner's lead in the polls over Roh Moo-hyun.
Civic groups like People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy gave credence to the allegations by publicly calling for a full investigation into them.
The Supreme Court eventually found that there was ``no evidence" to support Kim Dae-eop's claims and ordered him to pay 50 million won in damages. Two media outlets, including the famed online outlet OhmyNews, also had to pay damages.
But Kim's conviction came long after the election so there was no way to undo the damage done to Lee Hoi-chang or to Korean democracy.
There were also smear campaigns against Kim Dae-jung, in the 1997 presidential campaign.
The current crop of accusations against Lee Myung-bak begs three questions: Are the allegations against Lee true? Are they part of a plot by elements of the government and are the others out to derail his candidacy? If there is a plot, will it succeed?
The answer to the first two questions will depend on the efforts of prosecutors in getting to the heart of the matter. So far no criminal charges have been brought up against Lee and it is unlikely that any will be brought against him.
His alleged crimes took place years (sometimes decades) ago and it will be difficult for prosecutors to find compelling evidence against him even if the allegations are true. Likewise, there is no indication so far that prosecutors will be any more effective in dealing with the allegations against Lee than they were with the Kim Dae-eop's allegations in 2002.
So Lee will likely be judged solely in the court of public opinion.
Right now, it appears that Lee's campaign has largely succeeded in placing the current real estate speculation allegations within the context of the ongoing conflict between Lee and the Roh administration.
If Lee can continue to do so, he will be able to rally the GNP party faithful around him as the man that the left most fears to face in the general election.
He defended himself adequately in last Thursday's televised Grand National Party examination committee hearing and it appears likely that he will be able to hold what is left of his advantage over Park Geun-hye in the polls before next month's GNP nomination.
No matter which candidate emerges from the GNP nomination process, we can expect the flow of corruption allegations to continue through the December election.
Regardless of their veracity, if these allegations continue to be traced back to various government agencies, it will soon get to a point where a majority of the Korea public will simply stop believing them.
So Lee's surviving of these attacks now will make it more difficult for similar attacks to succeed later. This summer's struggle could prove to be an inoculation against a December surprise.
Andy Jackson teaches American government in the Lakeland College bridge program at Ansan College in Gyeonggi Province.