With the Korean presidential election just one month away, the Korean-American community is swept by election fever. People form organization to support “their” candidate, and psychological warfare between organizations can be fierce. When the wife of Kim Kyung-joon, Grand National Party candidate Lee Myung-bak’s dubious former business partner, at a press conference in Los Angeles on Nov. 20 displayed what she claimed were under-the-table contracts proving Lee’s involvement in an investment scam, some 50 Lee protesters were picketing outside and shouting, “Don’t be fooled by liars.”

Korean-American supporters for Lee Myung-bak have formed several organizations and run a support office in L.A. Support for the latecomer and traditional conservative Lee Hoi-chang is relatively small by comparison, but a California-based backers group centered on several Korean-American figures who supported him in his unsuccessful bid in the last two elections has been launched. Some Korean-American organizations that supported Park Geun-hye in the GNP primary have apparently gone over to Lee Hoi-chang.

A support group for Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party, meanwhile, was launched in Annandale, Virginia earlier this month and started making nation-wide efforts to support Chung. They cited Chung’s ability to continue the Sunshine Policy started by the Kim Dae-jung administration. The group met in Washington on Nov. 18 and New York on Nov. 21 with Chung aide Yoo Jay-kun .

Even the relatively unknown Create Korea Party presidential candidate Moon Kook-hyun has a Korean-American support club that runs a website. The group raised funds for advertising to support Moon and is striving to boost his name recognition.

(englishnews@chosun.com )