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| Rep. Kim Kyoung-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea announces a bid for the gubernatorial election in South Gyeongsang Province at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Choi Ha-young
Rep. Kim Kyoung-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) announced his bid for the gubernatorial race in South Gyeongsang Province, Thursday, despite opinion-rigging allegations against him.
"From now on, I will unwaveringly carry out the election campaigns," Kim said in a press conference held at the National Assembly.
"If any kind of independent counsel investigation is needed to halt political offensives raised by opposition parties, I will accept any investigations. Please thoroughly look into speculations and normalize government affairs as rapidly as possible."
Earlier in the day, he canceled a press conference in which he was supposed to announce his bid for the gubernatorial race. This raised speculation that Kim, a loyalist of President Moon Jae-in, may not run.
However, Kim claimed innocence, saying he will cooperate with investigators.
The DPK has already chosen Kim as its candidate for the election, and he has been leading opinion polls in the province by about 10 percentage points despite the scandal.
Still, the scandal may hit the popular President as well, since the lawmaker has been a core loyalist of President Moon Jae-in. Kim accompanied Moon throughout the presidential campaign last May. Some critics have predicted Kim as the next presidential contender of the DPK.
The scandal erupted April 14 when a news report alleged the lawmaker orchestrated opinion-rigging led by a liberal-minded blogger known as "druking" and his followers. The online community, originally aimed at studying economics, left online comments in favor of President Moon Jae-in, before they turned hostile toward Moon a few months ago.
On Monday, Kim admitted to meeting druking a few times and delivering his recommendation for a consulate position to Cheong Wa Dae. Conservative opposition parties suspect Kim accepted druking's recommendation in exchange for the netizen's online activities.
It was after the recommendation fell apart when druking and his followers launched an online smear campaign against President Moon ― which led to the DPK's request for investigation.
An interparty conflict regarding the druking case is swirling after the minor conservative Bareun Mirae Party (BMP) exposed a document that it exchanged with the DPK after the presidential election in May. After the election, the DPK and the People's Party, a predecessor to the BMP, withdrew legal cases against each other, and druking was one of 14 individuals accused of violating the election law.
Based on the document, the BMP lawmakers claimed the DPK was aware of druking's role and made efforts for the netizen's impunity.
The DPK, however, refuted the document, Thursday. "When the two parties signed on the document, we agreed to include all legal suits, only except the case of President Moon's son Jun-yong," said Rep. Song Ki-hun, the party's legal committee chief.
Two conservative parties ― the Liberty Korea Party and the BMP ― have called for an independent counsel to look into the case, as well as summoning relevant figures to the National Assembly for inspections and hearings.
The DPK has reiterated druking was one of numerous supporters of Moon, and Rep. Kim and the party are "victims" of their plots. The ruling party said the case is different from government-sponsored opinion-rigging cases under conservative administrations. Reportedly, druking-led communities were pseudo-religious groups, which believed some ancient prophets.
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