DLP Rep. Kwon Ends a Seven-day Hunger Strike on Prime Minister Lee’s Apology

Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Representative Kwon Young-ghil ended a seven-day hunger strike on Dec. 5 afternoon, after Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan apologized for a police raid on Kwon’s office. Kwon has been on a hunger strike since Nov. 29 in front of the National Assembly, protesting the police search.

Prime Minister Lee came to see DLP Rep. Kwon and said, “Though belated, I apologize for having gone a little too far in the process of the police search. Please end this hunger strike.” Kwon accepted Prime Minister Lee’s apology, nodding his head. Lee went on to say that he regretted a series of unpredicted incidents and would try to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Kwon had a press conference on ending his hunger strike after Lee left and said that the strike was a strong urge that the government should carry out a genuine reform. He also added that he was sorry for giving anxiety and worries to the public and fellow lawmakers by launching the hunger strike. He got a physical checkup at a hospital in Seoul later in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, there is a prevailing understanding that the shared interest by the ruling Uri party and the DLP led to Lee’s apology and Kwon’s ending of the hunger strike.

The Uri Party, which failed to pass the revision of the fair trade law on Dec. 2 due to the lack of quorum, badly needs cooperation from the DLP, the third-largest party in the National Assembly, especially to successfully deal with the abolition of the National Security Law. The DLP, for its part, probably wanted to avoid actually benefiting the opposition Grand National Party by showing uncooperative attitude toward the ruling party.

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com