Pro-Park official charges the gov’t with stalking
Published: 23 Feb. 2010, 21:02
Grand National Party Representative Lee Sung-hun yesterday became the latest pro-Park Geun-hye member to accuse the Blue House of stalking lawmakers who oppose the revised development plans for Sejong City.
In a radio interview yesterday, Lee said that a few days after he, Park and a Buddhist monk met last year, the monk called to ask how a government agency knew about their gathering.
“I had never told anyone about our meeting,” Lee said. “I thought it made no sense that a government agency not only knew about it, but even went so far as to ask the monk about what went on.
“It’s a shame that we keep seeing something like this happen even in this day and age,” Lee added. “If the government is trying to pressure those who are against or are sitting on the fence about the revised Sejong plan ... it must never happen.”
Park, former chairwoman of the Grand National Party, has been among the most vocal and visible critics of the new Sejong plan, which would turn the area into a corporate hub instead of an administrative city that hosts government offices.
On Monday, Hong Sa-duk, also a GNP lawmaker and pro-Park member, said in another radio interview that government investigators were carrying out clandestine probes into pro-Park lawmakers to uncover personal or professional flaws, in an apparent attempt to threaten them to alter their stance on Sejong.
Lee yesterday said the incident involving the Buddhist monk may or may not be directly related to Hong’s accusation, but in either case he believed the government must stop such practices.
The Blue House had no immediate reaction to Lee’s comment, but it bristled at Hong’s accusations yesterday.
Spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said Hong had launched “a groundless political attack” and that his charges were simply not true.
“We’ve made it clear several times that the Sejong issue has to do with policy making, not with disputes,” Kim said. “[Hong] will have to bear responsibility for his irresponsible political offensive.”
Park supporters didn’t back down. The GNP’s Yoo Jeong-bok demanded an apology from Chung Mong-joon, the chairman of his party, for falsely accusing Park of turning down an offer from President Lee Myung-bak.
According to GNP spokeswoman Chung Mi-kyung on Monday, Chung Mong-joon heard from Lee that Park didn’t want to meet the president if they were only going to talk about the revised Sejong plan.
In a press conference yesterday, Yoo said Park still has her door open for a meeting with Lee and that the president asked to meet Park in early February, not late January as Chung said.
By Yoo Jee-ho [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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