Dignitaries participating in the Korea Forum 2017, hosted by the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, pose at the Lotte Hotel Seoul, Wednesday. They are, from left, Rep. Lee Ju-young, head of the National Assembly committee on amending the Constitution; Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo Chairman Seung Myung-ho; Liberty Korea Party presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo; Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Moon Jae-in; People's Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo; Justice Party presidential candidate Sim Sang-jung; and Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han



Security emerges as dominating issue in presidential race

By Jun Ji-hye

Security issues are dominating the country's presidential campaign, with the Donald Trump administration's hawkish approach to North Korea raising tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Analysts said Wednesday that candidates for the May 9 election are leaning to the right as rumors of a possible U.S. pre-emptive strike on Pyongyang in April are fanning fears here. The North also vowed Tuesday to take the "toughest" counteraction against any attack on its soil.

In the latest in a series of offensive remarks on the North, the White House warned that President Trump has put Pyongyang "clearly on notice," and if he decides to take action, it will be "decisive and proportional" as seen in the U.S. military strikes on Syria last week.

Kim Jae-chun, an international relations professor at Sogang University, said, "Amid heightening security concerns, the advantage will go to the candidate who calls for strength in national security."

Candidates are now competitively stressing the importance of national security during their campaigns with frontrunners Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo recently raising the need to push ahead with the controversial deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here. Both Moon and Ahn previously expressed opposition to the installation.

The shift in their views comes as it has become more and more important to woo conservative voters to win the election with Moon of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and Ahn of the centrist People's Party in a neck-and-neck race in opinion polls. Political experts said the choice of conservative voters may decide the election as they do not have a strong enough candidate in the election. This is a result of the downfall of conservative parties along with former President Park Geun-hye's removal from office last month due to a massive corruption scandal.

Well aware of the fact that security issues could be a weak point for a liberal candidate, Ahn keeps making tough remarks to hold his rival, Moon, in check. He told reporters Tuesday, "The North Korean nuclear issue is the most important matter in the nation's national security. I will persuade China to cooperate with the United States."

In line with his stance, Ahn visited an army unit in Incheon last week, during which he wore a military uniform and went through shooting training.

For his part, Moon presided over an emergency security meeting of his party, also on Tuesday.

"If the calamity of war occurs again on the Korean Peninsula, I will take up a gun myself," he said during the meeting. "I warn North Korea clearly that we have been patient enough. We possess the military power to overwhelm North Korea."

Moon also suggested holding a security meeting presided over by the National Assembly speaker and participated in by chairmen and presidential candidates from each party, but the offer was rejected by the other candidates.

Meanwhile, conservative candidates have been critical of Moon. Hong Joon-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) called his offer to hold the meeting a "political show" designed only to appeal to voters, while Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party said Moon's offer was "arrogant," considering he had been opposed to the THAAD deployment.

LKP floor leader Chung Woo-taik criticized both Moon and Ahn for their flip-flopping on THAAD, saying, "There is no sincerity in their security pledges."

Some experts raised speculation that the U.S. has taken a hawkish approach to North in consideration of the South Korean election.

Referring to the recent dispatch of a U.S. Navy strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to waters close to the Korean Peninsula, they said it was unusual for the U.S. armed forces to mobilize the carrier again in less than a month. The USS Carl Vinson super-carrier made a port call in Busan last month and participated in annual Seoul-Washington military exercises.

"The decision to redeploy U.S. military assets cannot be made solely because of North Korean problems," said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the Institute for Far East Studies of Kyungnam University. "The U.S. can only redeploy them after considering the worldwide situation and complex problems. The upcoming presidential election may have been included in the consideration."

Prof. Kim Jae-chun said, on the other hand, that Trump's offensive comments on the North represented his intention to put pressure on the Kim Jong-un regime, not to influence the domestic politics of a U.S. ally.

Park Si-soo, Ko Dong-hwan, Eom Da-sol, Woo Ji-won, Lee Han-soo contributed to this article.