By Ryu Chang-gi
Lee Jung-hee, presidential candidate of the minor Unified Progressive Party (UPP), has denied that she is anti-American as well as a North Korean sympathizer.
In an exclusive interview with The Korea Times Thursday, Lee said it is an insult to her or her fellow UPP members if anyone calls them such.
"I am not anti-American. It will be accurate if someone calls me a politician advocating equal Korea-America relations,” the 43-year-old said.
“I was told that a working-level staffer handling the relocation of the U.S. military base in Yongsan in the Korean defense ministry side even asked not to mention anything about environmental or monetary issues because these issues could stir them up.”
This is not something that can occur in a conversation between equal partners, the progressive politician hinted.
Lee urged the government not to delay taking operation control of the Korean military from the U.S. army, which is due by the end of this year, arguing doing so will only destabilize peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Lee said she came to take a deep interest in Korea-U.S. relations and gender issues after she read the story of a murder case of a Korean sex worker by a U.S. solider in 1988.
“I was then a college sophomore. Seeing the late woman’s six-year-old daughter, I thought that I needed to do something to prevent the young girl from being a sex worker just as her mother did while she was alive,” the presidential candidate said.
“My concern about the gender issue led me to take an interest in peace on the Korean Peninsula and this ushered me to join the rally calling for the withdrawal of U.S. army based in Korea.”
The UPP was allegedly viewed as the anti-American party as it called for scrapping the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement for farmers and workers were to lose out. The pact was already into effect.
The minor party also remained silent over North Korean human rights.
Lee said characterizing the UPP, including her, as North Korean sympathizers is misleading.
"We live in the 21st century where people act based on their belief and judgment. It’s not right for anyone to act on what others directed to do so,” she said.
“Having said that, I think the term of North Korean sympathizers is an insult to the people who are called such. One can criticize that your position on a certain political issue is dangerous. But it is not fair for anyone to describe a certain person as a North Korean sympathizer.”
In September, Lee announced to run in the December presidential election on the UPP ticket. Recent polls showed that her approval ratings hover 3.0 percent.
The former labor activist said she will work hard to woo moderate voters in favor of the progressive party, leaving room for giving up her presidential bid if this is necessary to help the opposition camp have a unified candidate.
"I am ready to do anything if that can prevent the ruling Saenuri Party from winning the presidential election,” she said.
Recently the progressive side was split as several UPP lawmakers, who were at odds with Lee and her followers, left the minor party to create a new one with like-minded people.
The split came months after Reps. Lee Seog-ki and Kim Jae-yeon of the UPP were accused of vote-rigging scandals and resisted from giving up their parliamentary seats to take responsibility despite mounting calls.
Meanwhile, the two lawmakers’ allegedly sympathetic stance on North Korea fanned public criticism and distrust of the minor party.
Lee regretted over the split.
“People say progressives demise when they are divided. Putting this in an opposite way, we can win if we are united.
The progressive camp was divided because some of them were ambitious,” she said. She didn’t clarify who she referred to when she described ambitious was and why.
After graduating Seoul National University in 1992, Lee, a former co-chairman of UPP, studied to become a lawyer. She passed the state bar exam in 1996. She joined then the Democratic Labor Party in 2007 and was elected as lawmaker in the National Assembly election a year later.