The brief parliamentary impasse caused by an opposition spokesman's crude insult to President Park Geun-hye ended over the weekend, but its aftermath will not vanish so quickly.
Rep. Hong Ik-pyo, floor spokesman of the opposition Democratic Party, apparently crossed the line when he described President Park and her Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as the offspring of "demonic fetuses" that should not have been born ― in reference to ex-President Park Chung-hee and ex-Japanese leader Nobusuke Kishi.
The freshman legislator deserves the National Assembly's rebuke not just for degrading parliamentary decorum but for failing to discern Park Geun-hye as a natural person from the nation's President, and not differentiating occasions to vent his personal views and official opinions.
It was only natural ― and desirable ― for Hong to resign from his party post and DP leader Kim Han-gil to express regrets.
The governing Saenuri Party was also right to end its two-day boycott of parliamentary proceedings. Otherwise, the ruling party might have given the impression that it was politicizing the opponents' gaffe to shift attention from the state spy agency's meddling in last year's presidential election as well as its unwarranted disclosure of the minutes of the inter-Korean summit in 2007.
Come to think of it, the originators of the "politics of rough words" are the lawmakers of the ruling party's predecessor, the Grand National Party (GNP), who mocked former President Roh Moo-hyun by comparing him to a "frog," and his visit to Japan as "idiot's diplomacy." Some GNP members, in the form of a play, even called the then leader a "boor."
Korean politicians and the nation's "too vibrant" democracy is famous, or infamous, all over the world with photos of their pushing matches and fistfights having adorned the front pages of global dailies regularly. Koreans might have to feel relieved that these foreigners do not understand their language. Grown-ups here are concerned about increasingly rough language among younger generations, but these representatives of people show that teenagers and 20-somethings are not doing so without reason.
As vulgar as it is misdirected, Rep. Hong's remark might reflect the collective consciousness, or sub consciousness, of the opposition DP denying the legitimacy of the incumbent administration, based on their thinking that the ruling camp stole last year's election. Such a belief, sufficiently founded or not, should not lead to an election-nullifying campaign which will only backfire as a political strategy. It must focus on reforming the spy agency.
There's caveat for President Park and her party, too: don't defend the National Intelligence Service nor deal with Japan carelessly. Or Hong's curse will come back as threateningly real.
Rep. Hong Ik-pyo, floor spokesman of the opposition Democratic Party, apparently crossed the line when he described President Park and her Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as the offspring of "demonic fetuses" that should not have been born ― in reference to ex-President Park Chung-hee and ex-Japanese leader Nobusuke Kishi.
The freshman legislator deserves the National Assembly's rebuke not just for degrading parliamentary decorum but for failing to discern Park Geun-hye as a natural person from the nation's President, and not differentiating occasions to vent his personal views and official opinions.
It was only natural ― and desirable ― for Hong to resign from his party post and DP leader Kim Han-gil to express regrets.
The governing Saenuri Party was also right to end its two-day boycott of parliamentary proceedings. Otherwise, the ruling party might have given the impression that it was politicizing the opponents' gaffe to shift attention from the state spy agency's meddling in last year's presidential election as well as its unwarranted disclosure of the minutes of the inter-Korean summit in 2007.
Come to think of it, the originators of the "politics of rough words" are the lawmakers of the ruling party's predecessor, the Grand National Party (GNP), who mocked former President Roh Moo-hyun by comparing him to a "frog," and his visit to Japan as "idiot's diplomacy." Some GNP members, in the form of a play, even called the then leader a "boor."
Korean politicians and the nation's "too vibrant" democracy is famous, or infamous, all over the world with photos of their pushing matches and fistfights having adorned the front pages of global dailies regularly. Koreans might have to feel relieved that these foreigners do not understand their language. Grown-ups here are concerned about increasingly rough language among younger generations, but these representatives of people show that teenagers and 20-somethings are not doing so without reason.
As vulgar as it is misdirected, Rep. Hong's remark might reflect the collective consciousness, or sub consciousness, of the opposition DP denying the legitimacy of the incumbent administration, based on their thinking that the ruling camp stole last year's election. Such a belief, sufficiently founded or not, should not lead to an election-nullifying campaign which will only backfire as a political strategy. It must focus on reforming the spy agency.
There's caveat for President Park and her party, too: don't defend the National Intelligence Service nor deal with Japan carelessly. Or Hong's curse will come back as threateningly real.
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