Politicians' lies & fact checking

By Park Moo-jong

The never-ending corruption scandals involving high-ranking officials and politicians are driving the people crazy in this sizzling summer.

Who's telling the truth? Who's telling lies? The battle is fierce.

There are many things we cannot believe these days in this world. So what are the signature things?

Many people agree jokingly: weather forecasts, women's minds and statistics.

Indeed, the weather office is adding fuel to the fire in this excessively hot summer for its repeated "lies."

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), a British politician and writer who twice served as prime minister, said, "There are three types of lies ― lies, damn lies and statistics."

But there are people who put this kind of joke into the shade: politicians who are quite surprised to be taken at their word, since they never believe what they say, according to the late French President Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970).

The following joke, which many, including myself, believe is based on the truth in some aspects, clearly shows what politicians are.

"Everyone says that politicians lie all the time, and that just isn't true! But you have to understand body language to know when they're lying and when they aren't.

"When a politician rubs his nose, he isn't lying.

"When a politician tugs on his ear, he isn't lying.

"When a politician scratches his collar bone, he isn't lying.

"When his mouth starts moving, that's when he's lying!"

On top of a series of politicians' lies are the disgraced U.S President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal in the 1970s, which led to his resignation in 1974 and also former President Bill Clinton's Lewinsky scandal in 1998.

As for Bill Clinton's "false testimony" about the sex scandal, Barbara Bush made a cutting remark: "Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is."

Our leading politicians are second to none in lying.

Former President Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009) declared after his defeat to Kim Young-sam in the 1992 presidential election: "I, Kim Dae-jung, will not ‘do' politics again. I will resign as a National Assemblyman." And he left for Britain in 1993 to study at Cambridge for a year.

In 1997, he made a comeback, ran in the presidential election again and won against Lee Hoi-chang to become the 15th President of the Republic of Korea.

Back in the 1960s, then Army major general Park Chung-hee seized power through the May 16 coup in 1961 and promised a transfer of power to an elected government two years later. But he retired as a four-star Army general in 1963, ran in the presidential election that year and won against the former president Yun Po-sun.

The latest broken promise of a politician was made by Moon Jae-in, a leading candidate of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, concerning next year's presidential election. Moon, after losing to President Park Geun-hye in the 2012 showdown, promised to withdraw from the political world "without regret" and would not run in the presidential poll, if Honam (Jolla Province and Gwangju) did not support him in the general election in April.

His party suffered a humiliating defeat by winning only three seats of the total of 28 in the region. But he did not keep his promise, namely he lied and has been active in campaigning for his second bid for the presidency.

These are simple examples of our leading politicians' lies. There are many politicians who lie like a rug just for their own political interests.

The court's role is to determine whether criminals on trial are lying or not. The use of a lie detector is not something that started just yesterday.

The problem is that politicians are free from responsibility for their unfounded claims, absurd remarks and lies, on the whole. Especially, lawmakers enjoy parliamentary privilege for being exempt from liability for their speeches in the National Assembly.

The incumbent lawmakers appear to have not the slightest idea of restricting the privilege of speech.

Then, how to punish the lying politicians?

It is the role of the mass media to check and let the people know about the recurring lies of politicians. Unfortunately, however, our press has not been good at this job. Numerous media outlets, including those online, are engaged in excessive competition without fact finding.

We have to focus on the latest global movement of "fact checking."

This fact checking movement was started in 2003 in the United States as a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics by monitoring the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

The movement has grown to 64 active groups around the world in 2015 ― up from 44 the previous year ― and the Second Global Fact Checking Summit was held in London a year ago.

But the activity is still slight here, except for the JTBC News, "Fact Check," that checks political statements and debunks controversies surrounding public figures.

Newspapers need to join the movement as the Washington Post and other major global papers have, ahead of next year's presidential election.

Of course, it is the voters who will punish or reward politicians for what they say.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) said, "I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you."

Park Moo-jong is The Korea Times advisor. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after having worked as a reporter since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com.