With fewer than 50 days to go until December's presidential election, Korea's rival political parties have launched a new battle over revelations that an opposition lawmaker made strong sexual references and used other coarse language online.
The remarks by Rep. Kim Kwang-jin of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) could spell trouble for the liberal camp if it doesn't take appropriate measures amid growing pressure from the ruling Saenuri Party to strip him of his legislative seat.
In April, ahead of the parliamentary elections, the DUP drew fire for keeping a lawmaker candidate who was found to have made derogatory and sexual slurs in the past. The party lost to the conservative ruling party in the polls later that month.
According to reports, Kim, a 31-year-old first-term lawmaker elected on the DUP's proportional representative ticket in April, retweeted a Twitter message early this year saying his New Year's wish was the "sudden death" of President Lee Myung-bak.
In other Twitter posts, he wrote messages such as, "The next time we drink, make sure you bring a whip and handcuffs. As well as a nurse's uniform and a school uniform."
Kim apologized in a statement last Friday, saying his comments could have appeared inappropriate when taken out of the Twitter framework, but argued he posted the messages as an ordinary citizen before becoming a lawmaker.
He also resigned from his posts within DUP presidential candidate Moon Jae-in's election camp and vowed to fight what he said was a political offensive from the ruling party over his recent description of a general who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War as a "traitor of the nation."
Reports since then, however, have shown that Kim continued to post vile remarks even after becoming a member of parliament.
In a Twitter message in June, he wrote, "I sometimes hug younger female colleagues and take off the clothes of younger male colleagues, which makes me think that regardless of the circumstances at the time, one could become a sex offender in an instant."
Saenuri spokeswoman Shin Yee-jin told a news conference on Tuesday the DUP and Moon should not try to gloss over the issue by saying Kim made the remarks before he joined parliament but make "swift reform efforts."
DUP floor leader Park Jie-won apologized to the people the same day, saying Kim has been given another warning to exercise self-restraint and take time for self-reflection. (Yonhap)