Parties locked in ‘McCarthyism’ row

By Chung Hee-hyung

President Lee Myung-bak vowed in his Memorial Day speech, Wednesday, not to tolerate forces that deny the order of free democracy, alluding to opposition lawmakers who sympathize with North Korea.

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) claims Lee and the conservative ruling Saenuri Party are whipping up an ideological witch hunt similar to “McCarthyism.”

However, the situation at the DUP is more complicated. Its stalwart Lee Hae-chan, a candidate for the party leadership in an ongoing election, opposed a bill on North Korean human rights, arguing it was tantamount to intervention into North Korea’s internal affairs.

Lim Su-kyung, a new DUP lawmaker and former student activist, caused a stir when she cursed North Korean defectors. Above all, two lawmakers of the minor leftist Unified Progressive Party (UPP), who critics call North Korean sympathizers, defied calls for their resignation amid an internal power struggle.

All ingredients appear to be in the mix for a potent ideological blowout in the lead-up to the Dec. 19 presidential election.

“They (subversive forces) are even trying to destroy the country’s constitutional order, but fortunately those who are willing to die in defense of our country outnumber them,” President Lee said during his speech.

The Saenuri Party’s Chairman Hwang Woo-yea, said: “I am skeptical whether the opposition’s legislators would act as willing guardians of the Constitution,” adding that the National Assembly should consider formally reviewing their qualifications as lawmakers.

Kim Moon-soo, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, described the DUP as a “host” harboring pro-North lawmakers who were blindly following North Korea’s juche (self-reliance) ideology.

“These pro-North sympathizers have used their connections as leverage in building their political influence,” blasted Kim in front of civil servants of Gyeonggi Province, Monday.

The opposition DUP called these ideological based statements “a sinister movement” whose purpose was to help Park Geun-hye, the ruling party’s leading presidential contender, become the future president.

“The unfettered Red Syndrome fanned by the ruling party has reached an unacceptable level,” said opposition lawmaker Kim Han-gil at a press conference.

Rep. Lee Hae-chan, Kim’s rival in DUP’s primary for the party’s leadership, said, “If Park Geun-hye is thinking about running the election under the madness of McCarthyism, I must say that it is an unforgivable act,” at a press conference.

“Under the law, the National Assembly may review the qualifications of any lawmaker who is suspected of, for example, voting fraud,” said Kim Min-jeon, a professor of Political Science at Kyunghee University.

“Putting one’s political thought or conviction as a subject of formal review, however, is a different matter. The idea that a lawmaker’s personal belief could be subjected to legal scrutiny is dangerous indeed.”

The ideological dispute that has put the conservatives against the progressives originated from two lawmakers of the minor Unified Progressive Party. Lee Seok-gi and Kim Jae-yeon, two of the leftist party’s legislators, have been under severe censure after a UPP internal investigation found that Lee, Kim and twelve other party members were selected as proportional candidates through voting irregularities in the party’s primary in April.

A faction that is hostile against the two in the leftist party is joining hands with the DUP to kick them out of the party in what is seen as an effort to reorganize the pan-opposition alliance ahead of the December presidential poll.

Intense pressure had been put on them that they immediately resign, but criticism against them had initially focused mostly on their vote rigging. Before long, however, the ruling party seized upon their record of pro-North sympathy and changed target.

Park Geun-hye urged the two lawmakers to step down. “Whoever harbors questionable thoughts on matters of national security is unfit to work as a legislator.”

Rep. Lim Su-kyung drew a hail of condemnation when she called a North Korean defector a “traitor” at a student bar last week. The student-turned defector replied that Lim had been “cheated” by the Stalinist state. “It is even scarier than being pro-North,”Baek Yo-se said in an interview.