Oldest existing political party

By Park Moo-jong

The KBS-2 quiz show "1 vs. 100," broadcast on every Tuesday evening, is enjoying steady popularity since it debuted in May 2007 with a coveted cash prize of 50 million won ($41.5 million) at stake.

Enjoying a very high viewing rate of 5.8 percent as a quiz show, the producers must be racking their brains immediately after each show over how to come up with questions.

I recommend two good questions, though they are very difficult for the comparatively young contestants.

One is: "Which is the oldest existing political party in Korea? The other is: "How many political parties have there been over the past 60 years?

Is it the ruling but minority Saenuri Party or the opposition but majority Minjoo Party of Korea? I bet not only the contestants but many viewers may be puzzled for a moment.

It is not an easy question to answer because the parties have been repeatedly reorganizing themselves amid deep-rooted factional strife ahead of presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

The party that existed for the longest period is the now-defunct Democratic Republican Party (1963-1980), founded by the 1961 May 16 coup leaders under the leadership of the late President Park Chung-hee (1917-1979).

How about the existing party? Few will be able to answer.

The ruling Saenuri came into being four years ago back in 2012 as the successor to the Grand National Party (GNP), founded in 1997 just before the presidential election in December that year through the merger of the then ruling New Korea Party led by the late former President Kim Young-sam (1927-2015) and the then splinter Democratic Party.

The majority opposition Minjoo Party of Korea was created on Dec. 28, 2015, led by Moon Jae-in, a leading presidential candidate for Dec. 20 presidential poll, as the successor to the Democratic Alliance for New Politics (DANP) founded in March 2014.

The third largest People's Party was founded only a year ago, by defectors, including Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, from the DANP.

The meeting of and parting with political forces, especially opposition ones, has been a piece of cake in the political history of the Republic Korea.

As a natural result, more than 250 parties have appeared or vanished before and after various elections since the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948.

So, finding a "good and fresh" name for a new party has been a tough question because the names of the many parties of the past must be excluded. A public name contest has been a must.

As well reported, the ruling Saenuri Party was split early last year end as 29 of its lawmakers deserted it to found the "Bareun Jeongdang" (Righteous Party or Conservative New Party for Reform?) in the wake of the so-called Choi Soon-sil Gate scandal involving the impeached President Park Geun-hye.

In comparison, most advanced countries hold fast to a solid two-party system with both the ruling and opposition parties having survived for up to 300 years.

For instance, the Conservative Party (Tory) in Britain was created in 1669. The Democratic Party in the United States came into being in 1792, while its rival Republican Party was founded in 1854. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan was established in 1955.

It is still vivid in my memory that the now-defunct Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), created by the late former President Kim Dae-jung in 2000, "hoped" to last for at least 100 years, but existed for only eight.

Korean politicians must be ardent supporters of English historian Edward A. Freeman (1823-1892), who said, ''History is past politics, and politics is present history.''

Indeed, our politicians have been faithful to not betraying the theories of the Western scholar who described precisely a century ago what the politics in this Far East nation are like.

Our political history after liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) clearly shows that every new president and his followers founded a new party with its own ambitions and rosy catchphrases.

The politicians love to say at both official and private gatherings that they are ''taking pride in our nation's long history and traditions.'' When it comes to their parties, they may be proud of their genius in creating new parties and may be the most creative creatures in the world in terms of founding them.

Without exception, our politicians repeat the practice of breaking up and founding new parties under new names around elections, although the past shows that such efforts seldom earn voter support.

Those who found new parties used to make ''reform and change'' as their top political target like those who founded the Bareun Jeongdang under the catchphrase of righteous reform. But past history shows neither reform nor change has come to pass.

The short lives of political parties and their never-ending changing of alignments are the result of our politicians' pursuit of their own interests, earning them the disgraceful nickname of ''migratory birds.''

It is a pity that we have no statesmen, only politicians.

The late French President Georges Pompidou (1911-1974) said a year before his death: "A statesman is a politician who places himself or herself at the service of the nation. A politician is statesman who places the nation at his service."

We have only politicians who are primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow interests.

Park Moo-jong is the advisor of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper from 2004 to 20014 after working as a reporter for the daily since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com