The ruling Saenuri party on Sunday bashed an opposition candidate for her controversial election poster that targeted President Park Geun-hye.



Rep. Kwon Eun-hee of the People’s Party on Saturday posted an image of herself dressed as a soldier with the words, “The sniper to take down Park Geun-hye: It’s Kwon Eun-hee” on her Facebook page. Kwon is running as candidate in the upcoming April 13 general election.







The online election campaign poster of Rep. Kwon Eun-hee of the People‘s Party.



Ahn Hyoung-hwan, spokesman for Saenuri’s election camp, called the poster “absurd” and denounced it as “an attack against the people.”



“Kwon should sincerely express regrets about her rash statements which offended the people,” Ahn said in an official statement.



“The People’s Party should apologize for nominating such a poorly-qualified candidate. I call for strong measures, including Kwon’s resignation.”



The poster -- intended as a parody of the popular TV drama “Descendants of the Sun” depicting soldiers’ lives -- stirred controversy on social media.



Amid controversies, the lawmaker took down the image and the party, too, offered its belated apology.



"We have immediately ordered (Kwon) to delete the image and apologize," the party said Sunday through a statement.



"The president, no matter what, should be judged through the people's votes."



The 42-year-old former police officer gained public attention in 2013 after claiming that then-police chief Kim Yong-pan intervened in her probe into whether the National Intelligence Service ran a smear campaign against opposition candidate Moon Jae-in in the 2012 presidential election.



The Supreme Court questioned the credibility of her testimony and acquitted Kim of the charges. Seoul prosecutors subsequently indicted Kwon for perjury last year.



After quitting her police career, Kwon entered politics, running for the then-Democratic Party in a 2014 by-election. She defected earlier this year to join the new People’s Party.





By Yoon Min-sik

(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)