Break-up verdict a chance for liberals to appeal to people
President Park Geun-hye on Saturday hailed as historic the Constitutional Court's order Friday to dissolve the minor leftist Unified Progressive Party (UPP), saying, "It was a historic decision that strongly protects our liberal democracy.''
Park's statement was short and definite, but its implications are quite complex and resounding.
In reaching the landmark ruling supported by eight out of nine judges, the court accepted the Justice Ministry's argument that the third-largest party's platform reneged on the basic democratic order of the Constitution by supporting North Korea's ideological doctrine. "Taking into account the peculiar nature of the Korean Peninsula in which the country is fiercely confronting North Korea, the threats from the UPP are clear and present,'' said Constitutional Court President Justice Park Han-chul.
To sum up, the top court presented its guideline for disallowing a political party led by pro-North Korea groups to protect the country's basic democratic order. It is the first time in the nation's constitutional history that a court has ordered a political party to disband. With the ruling, five UPP lawmakers lost their seats in the 300-member legislature.
The court's decision might have been anticipated, given that conservatives make up the absolute majority of the nine-member bench. Critics also said the ruling reflected our society's conservative swing in recent years.
But one cannot help but lash out at the small far-left party's regressive moves. Formally launched in late 2011, the UPP was created with a merger of small progressive groups ahead of the legislative and presidential elections in 2012. The party and its predecessor have been involved in numerous espionage cases linked to North Korea. Lee Seok-ki, one of its lawmakers, and a few other key party members were arrested on treason charges in September last year.
The party also has virtually remained mute to the North's brutal abuse of human rights, and showed its outright anachronism by alleging that North Korea's system was better than the South's. Furthermore, the UPP has been notorious for violence and election rigging.
But it is undeniable that the verdict might compromise our precious democratic values ― freedom of speech and pursuit of diversity. At a time when the party's platform does not clearly stipulate a violent revolution or the North Korean style of socialism, the ruling might be the result of interpreting the platform out of proportion. That is because of our concern that the break-up of a political party through a court decision could weaken the freedom of political activities and violate democratic values based on party politics.
Most worrisome is that the verdict might deepen the ideological conflict between conservatives and progressives. But given that the Constitutional Court's ruling is final, it is basic for every member of society to honor it. Rather, our sincere hope is that this can serve as an occasion to let progressive politics flourish if liberals succeed in dampening the time-consuming dispute on "following North Korea'' from now on.
It is obvious that North Korea's anachronistic system cannot be an alternative to the country's progressive forces. They should emerge as social democrats that can take power by uprooting the cause for controversy over North Korea.
President Park Geun-hye on Saturday hailed as historic the Constitutional Court's order Friday to dissolve the minor leftist Unified Progressive Party (UPP), saying, "It was a historic decision that strongly protects our liberal democracy.''
Park's statement was short and definite, but its implications are quite complex and resounding.
In reaching the landmark ruling supported by eight out of nine judges, the court accepted the Justice Ministry's argument that the third-largest party's platform reneged on the basic democratic order of the Constitution by supporting North Korea's ideological doctrine. "Taking into account the peculiar nature of the Korean Peninsula in which the country is fiercely confronting North Korea, the threats from the UPP are clear and present,'' said Constitutional Court President Justice Park Han-chul.
To sum up, the top court presented its guideline for disallowing a political party led by pro-North Korea groups to protect the country's basic democratic order. It is the first time in the nation's constitutional history that a court has ordered a political party to disband. With the ruling, five UPP lawmakers lost their seats in the 300-member legislature.
The court's decision might have been anticipated, given that conservatives make up the absolute majority of the nine-member bench. Critics also said the ruling reflected our society's conservative swing in recent years.
But one cannot help but lash out at the small far-left party's regressive moves. Formally launched in late 2011, the UPP was created with a merger of small progressive groups ahead of the legislative and presidential elections in 2012. The party and its predecessor have been involved in numerous espionage cases linked to North Korea. Lee Seok-ki, one of its lawmakers, and a few other key party members were arrested on treason charges in September last year.
The party also has virtually remained mute to the North's brutal abuse of human rights, and showed its outright anachronism by alleging that North Korea's system was better than the South's. Furthermore, the UPP has been notorious for violence and election rigging.
But it is undeniable that the verdict might compromise our precious democratic values ― freedom of speech and pursuit of diversity. At a time when the party's platform does not clearly stipulate a violent revolution or the North Korean style of socialism, the ruling might be the result of interpreting the platform out of proportion. That is because of our concern that the break-up of a political party through a court decision could weaken the freedom of political activities and violate democratic values based on party politics.
Most worrisome is that the verdict might deepen the ideological conflict between conservatives and progressives. But given that the Constitutional Court's ruling is final, it is basic for every member of society to honor it. Rather, our sincere hope is that this can serve as an occasion to let progressive politics flourish if liberals succeed in dampening the time-consuming dispute on "following North Korea'' from now on.
It is obvious that North Korea's anachronistic system cannot be an alternative to the country's progressive forces. They should emerge as social democrats that can take power by uprooting the cause for controversy over North Korea.
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