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Pyongyang to S. Koreans: Votes for conservatives will cause war
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, May 25, 2006
North Korea has called for South Koreans to vote against candidates from the main opposition Grand National Party in the upcoming local elections, citing their anti-communist, pro-U.S. platform.
"If the Grand National Party is given a chance to rule the South, the whole Korean people would suffer disastrous war caused by the United States," said an Internet Web site run by North Korea.
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Shigeru Yokota, left, father of Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, poses with the Chairwoman of the Grand National Party, Park Geun-hye, center, and South Korean Choi Gye-wol, right, the mother of Kim Young-nam, believed forcibly taken to the North in 1978, in Seoul, on May 17.
AP / Lee Jin-man
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"All our people in the North and abroad are closely watching the May 31 elections," the article said, placing special emphasis on local elections in Seoul.
"We believe Seoul citizens should cast anti-GNP votes, based on national conscience and responsibility."
North Korea has often attempted to interfere in key South Korean elections and other major political processes in a bid to rally sympathizers in the South and drive a wedge in the U.S.-South Korean alliance.
In the 2002 presidential election, North Korea called for South Koreans to vote against GNP candidate Lee Hoi-Chang and his anti-communist, pro-U.S. policies. The GNP, which has lost two consecutive presidential elections over the past decade, is enjoying a powerful comeback against a backdrop of plunging popularity for the leftist Uri Party.
On May 31, South Korea will hold nationwide mayoral and gubernatorial elections, which are considered the latest showdown between President Roh Moo-Hyun's ruling Uri Party and the GNP ahead of next year's presidential election.
The local polls are also regarded as crucial to the fate of the ruling camp's platform of seeking reconciliation with North Korea. The Roh administration's pro-North Korean policy may lose steam if the ruling party fails to register gains in the elections, as the Uri suffered crushing defeats in a series of elections in recent years.
The conservative GNP has blasted Roh's North Korea policy as "appeasement," calling for an end to unconditional economic aid to the North. The party has long maintained a pro-U.S. stance, whereas Roh's Uri Party has emphasized "independence" in relations with the United States.
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