(News Focus) S. Korea's presidential race likely to get off to early start

South Koreans are bracing for an early presidential campaign, as key opposition contenders have one by one declared their ambitions to run for the December 2007 elections.

The latest public surveys suggested three candidates -- two from the conservative main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and one independent -- would run in a neck-in-neck race, but experts say it is still too early to predict who would win the nation's top elected post.

Throwing her hat in the ring first for the presidential race was Rep. Park Geun-hye, the eldest daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea for 18 years with an iron fist until he was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979.

"I felt the limits of the opposition party since the GNP doesn't rule the government and has a smaller number of lawmakers in the parliament. I'd like to develop South Korea into an advanced nation where people can live without worries, by creating new leadership," Park, 55, told reporters during her trip to Germany on Friday (German time).

"I intend to participate in the party's competition to select its presidential nominee."

Park, a former GNP chairwoman, is popular with conservative voters discontented with the liberal-leaning government of President Roh Moo-hyun over its reconciliatory North Korea policy, lackluster reform measures and the slumping economy.

Political pundits say Park's early disclosure of her presidential bid is linked to the latest opinion polls placing her in the second spot behind her party colleague Lee Myung-bak, who served as Seoul mayor until June.

According to a series of media surveys released over the past several days, Park was behind Lee by about 2-5 percentage points, with former Prime Minister Goh Kun coming in third. In only one public poll was Park tied with Lee.

Alarmed by Park's declaration, Lee, 66, also gave shape to his presidential ambition.

"I will participate in the party's in-house election for its presidential candidate to help my party win next year's presidential election," Lee said during a luncheon meeting with journalists in Pohang, a southeastern port city, on Sunday.

Lee's public showing is largely thanks to his push to demolish an elevated highway running through Seoul and uncover a 6-kilometer stream which had been buried for about 50 years. The US$350 million work initially faced strong opposition, as critics said it was Lee's showcase project only aimed at bolstering his presidential bid, which would bring traffic chaos, waste taxpayers' money and evict merchants operating in the area.

The restored stream, however, quickly became a hot spot in Seoul, with some media outlets appraising it as a "green revolution." No doubt the stream restoration boosted his "can-do" image, which gave him the nickname "bulldozer," when he served as CEO of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., a symbol of South Korea's rapid industrialization.

Some analysts say Park and Lee will eventually fail to narrow the field to a single GNP candidate, citing their deepening differences over how to choose the party's presidential nominee.

Lee argues the party's candidate should be elected by ordinary citizens in an "open" primary, while Park said the nomination process should include party members.

President Roh's ruling Uri Party also has several presidential hopefuls, but public surveys have so far indicated they were too weak to compete against either of the two GNP candidates.

Chung Dong-young, a former unification minister who headed the Uri Party, and Kim Geun-tae, incumbent party leader, are potential presidential contenders, but both of them have lagged behind their GNP rivals by nearly 20 percentage points in all major media polls.

By law, President Roh is barred from seeking reelection.

The weak showing by Uri Party candidates have spurred talks of political realignment and regrouping ahead of the presidential elections.

Among several scenarios is the Uri Party allying with former Prime Minister Goh and field him as a single ruling party candidate, but Goh has yet to reveal his position on that.

"By year's end, Goh will focus on mustering all center-reformist forces and he will make public his plan for the election after the ongoing parliamentary regular session" ends in December, said an aide to Goh, on request of anonymity.

Other speculation was the Uri Party merging with the minor opposition Democratic Party or the GNP allying with the Democratic Party. A senior Uri Party leader went as far as proposing uniting all reformist forces excluding President Roh.

Seoul, Oct. 2 (Yonhap News)