ED Party hit by sexual misconduct
Expulsion of lawmaker is slap on the wrist
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) ousted Rep. Park Wan-joo on allegations of sexual misbehavior on Thursday. The DPK said it decided to expel the lawmaker after conducting an internal investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse that took place last December. The party was notified of the case in April. The recent case is expected to deal a far-flung adverse impact on the party, as Rep. Park is a three-term senior lawmaker who served as chief of the DPK's policy committee.
More dumbfounding is that Park allegedly forced the victim, his own secretary, to resign in order to cover up his misdeed. Worse still, it came out amid ongoing probes into alleged sexist remarks by the DPK's Rep. Choe Kang-wook and a sexual abuse case involving an aide of Rep. Kim Won-i. The party will likely face growing setbacks arising from the recent sex-related scandals especially ahead of the crucial local elections slated for June 1.
The party has long been a target of public disparagement due to numerous sexual abuse cases involving political big names such as former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung, former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon. The party took diverse measures whenever such cases broke out, but to no particular avail. For instance, it installed a gender violence report center, but nothing seems to have changed.
Criticism is rising that the party should have taken harsher punitive steps against Park beyond expulsion, such as stripping him of his lawmaker status. The DPK should have first explained the case and apologize to the victim and the people. Instead, it convened a closed-door meeting to deal with the matter and sever ties with Park. The party cannot root out sexual misconduct with such a lukewarm attitude.
Park Ji-hyun, a young activist-turned co-chair of the DPK's emergency committee, deplored the latest scandal despite the party's full-fledged efforts to prevent sexual abuse by applying a no-mercy principle. She vowed to revise party regulations and take necessary measures to terminate sexual misconduct by powerful figures. Rep. Yun Ho-jung, another emergency committee co-chair, also acknowledged the party is responsible for the recent case and would not forgive such misbehavior.
Yet despite the party's pledges toward that end, skepticism is growing that it is only attempting to patch up its reputation again, given it has been repeating the same practices and reneging earlier promises. The DPK should take sterner measures against Park, for instance by bringing the case to the National Assembly ethics committee to remove him from his Assembly seat. Otherwise, the party will face a grim public judgment again in the forthcoming local elections. Sexual harassment has already become a chronic disease haunting the DPK, and it needs a special remedy.