A fortnight before the vote, the 18th presidential election has narrowed down to a duel between the two major candidates ― or the conservatives vs. the liberals.
This is a sharp, and in a way, desirable break from the past when regional animosity, political factionalism, and rivalry between former democracy fighters and industrial warriors decided the outcomes of elections.
Nothing shows this better than the successive offers of support for conservative Park Geun-hye by the followers of two former presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam. Although they were the biggest rivals of each other, the two ex-leaders, each representing the nation’s southwestern and southeastern region, were both sworn enemies of Park’s father, strongman Park Chung-hee.
Many of their supporters, who were also former victims of Park’s iron-fisted rule for 19 years and belong to the center-of-right of the ideological spectrum, said in unison, ``We can never allow leftists to take power once again.” They then vowed to bury the hatchet not only between themselves but with their one-time common adversaries.
It seems as if power is much thicker than political philosophy in Korea.
The situation can hardly be more different in the liberal camp. One has only to watch the behavior of Ahn Cheol-soo, a liberal and former independent candidate who officially disbanded his camp Monday only offering a lukewarm expression of support for his ex-rival, Moon Jae-in.
Instead of throwing his weight fully behind the erstwhile liberal competitor within the extent of not violating the Election Law, the software guru-turned politician reiterated the remark he made when withdrawing candidacy about 10 days ago, while criticizing both candidates for outdated mud-slinging. Behind Ahn’s ambiguity might be his lingering grudge against Moon or his post-election political designs, or both. Yet whoever said conservatives fall because they are corrupt while liberals fall because they are divided is right.
Ahn will of course try to keep his promise to help Moon in any way, but the widening gap between the two main runners shows half-hearted support would not be enough to turn the tables. There are even rumors that Ahn may not do his best to emerge as the opposition’s leader under a conservative government rather than being reduced to just one of many heavyweights in a liberal administration.
It is true the liberal opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) is little better than the ruling conservative Saenuri Party in sticking to the old politics of vested interests. But Ahn and his aides should ponder seriously in which environment it would be easier to exist, or if it is possible at all, to make their slogan ``new politics” a reality.
Of course, Moon and his DUP should take ultimate responsibility for lagging behind the conservatives. Their lack of self-reform, poor tactics and failure to preempt major election issues have combined to bring about a bizarre situation in which the governing party candidate became the attacker while putting the opposition runner on the defensive. All this augurs ill for the progressive politicians and numerous underprivileged voters who pin great hopes on them.
The 50-year-old former physician and university dean may be envisioning a completely different political landscape five or even 10 years later. That might never be seen depending on how liberals do in the next two weeks. And Ahn may have to share up to half of the responsibility for that.