Main opposition chief apologizes for candidates' disparaging remarks

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Mon, December 4, 2023 | 17:53

Main opposition chief apologizes for candidates' disparaging remarks

Posted : 2020-04-09 17:14

Updated : 2020-04-09 17:34

Kim Chong-in, cente, head of the main opposition United Future Party's election committee, apologizes with other party members at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday, for inappropriate remarks made by two candidates against a 'certain age group' and bereaved family members of the Sewol ferry disaster. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) has apologized for a series of inappropriate remarks made by two of its candidates, who disparaged bereaved families of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster and specific age groups, respectively.

The party also decided to expel them from the party, a decision the candidates strongly protested against.

Kim Chong-in, co-head of the UFP's election committee, held a press conference at the National Assembly, Thursday, to apologize over the incidents.

"I am so sorry for disappointing and angering the public over indiscreet remarks by two candidates of the UFP," he said. "This is not a matter of whether their remarks were true or not. They used words that should not come from a candidate of a political party."

Kim promised that such incidents would not happen again, saying if his party wins the election, it would not disappoint the people.

One of the two candidates is former lawmaker Cha Myung-jin, who is running in the Bucheon-C District in Gyeonggi Province. During a televised debate recorded Wednesday, he claimed bereaved family members of victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster engaged in "promiscuous conduct" with a volunteer in a tent that had been set up at a Sewol memorial space on Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul.

Cha referred to the occurrence of "a threesome" citing an online news outlet's report about the unconfirmed incident.

He made the remark in response to a related question about his previous disparaging comments about the Sewol victims and their families. A day ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster last year, Cha wrote on Facebook that the bereaved family members were "taking advantage" of the people's sympathy over their children's deaths for too long a period of time.

The then Liberty Korea Party (LKP), the predecessor of the UFP, suspended Cha's party membership for three months, which was seen as far too light considering the public anger at his remarks. With his fresh disparaging comments over the Sewol issue, criticism is now rising even among party members that it was wrong for the party not to impose a harsher punishment at the time, and to nominate him to run in the general election.

Prior to this, another UFP candidate caused a stir over remarks on people in their 30s and 40s. Kim Dae-ho, who is running in the Gwanak-A District of Seoul, said during a campaign committee meeting Monday that these age groups lacked logic and did not support the conservative party because they did not know the history of how the country grew into its current position,.

A day after the controversy, he made another comment that could be seen as disparaging the elderly. When talking about facilities for the disabled, he said, "Everybody becomes disabled when they get old."

The party's ethics committee expelled Kim from the party, and will review punitive measures for Cha, who is also likely to be expelled after Kim Chong-in said he should be. Expulsion from a party during the election period strips the individual of their candidate status according to the Election Law.

The two candidates are opposing the decision. They both said they had been trapped by media "framing," which distorted their intention.

"I offer a hundred apologies to those who lost their precious children due to the Sewol ferry disaster for hurting them with my remarks in the past," Cha said on Facebook. "But those who behaved inappropriately in their self-dubbed sacred tents at the Sewol memorial site should be the ones apologizing … I was simply quoting the obvious fact I saw from a media report."

Kim Dae-ho applied for a court injunction of the party's decision, Thursday. "I'll talk with the National Election Commission after the court makes a decision (in my favor)," he said.

damin.jung@koreatimes.co.kr