ed Wavering opposition party

The Democratic United Party, arguably the longest-standing political party in Korea, is in danger of breaking apart. Voters can see why and how the main opposition party has fallen into such a serious state of decline, from the DUP’s own report on the reasons it was defeated in the Dec. 19 presidential election.

Yet most conspicuous about the 364-page report is not its content but the timing of its release. The electoral postmortem came nearly four months after the poll, at a time when it should be stepping up reforms based on such analyses.

The writers of the report seem to have tried hard to ensure fair content based on extensive surveys in and outside of the party and objective interpretations by external advisors. But the conclusion was rather banal: to sum up, the liberal DUP lost the election that many political watchers thought the opposition couldn’t lose, because it lagged behind the conservative ruling party in terms of both candidates and policies.

It then all but called for the retreat of candidate Moon Jae-in and other heavyweights in the “pro-Roh Mu-hyun faction” from the party leadership. As the mainstream of the party shows little signs of accepting the report’s recommendations while putting up strong resistance to such pressure from within and without, the latest report will likely end up as another seed of deepening intraparty conflicts.

It is little wonder then that most media outlets and commentators call for self-reflection from party leadership above all else, especially those who led the failed campaigns. However, we see things somewhat differently.

Of course, the largest opposition party should have entered a period of soul-searching because of the election defeat and the consequent quagmire the party has been in since.

But self-reflection without an accurate understanding of the causes of defeat will only lead to unhealthy self-abasement, for all the wrong reasons. Above all, the 48-52 percent election result can hardly be described as a crushing defeat; it was a very close call. As this page repeatedly pointed out during the election campaigns, the DUP’s failure was not due to its “lurching to the left” on such issues as the free trade agreement with the United States or the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island but its spineless wavering over key economic and national security matters.

When the center-right candidate Park Geun-hye moved to the center and preempted welfare issues of the center-left DUP, the latter should have maintained its original positions in key issues.

What’s more important than one, or even two, presidential polls is the DUP’s firm establishment of political and ideological identity. Party leaders must consider why there are rumors that the DUP will be merged into yet-to-be-born reformist opposition party. Political parties can, and should, change but their core philosophy should remain firm and clear.

Most of all, they must honestly resolve whether they are working for the electorate or themselves.