Not a ruling party

The conduct of the ruling Grand National Party gives no impression that it is the ruling party responsible for state affairs. The party showed cowardice Thursday by giving up submitting its objection to the National Assembly to the parliamentary confirmation of Constitutional Court justice nominee Cho Yong-hwan. In the confirmation hearing, Cho was found to be unqualified because of his problematic views on the country and national security. He also falsified his residential address four times. The ruling party should have thwarted his parliamentary confirmation by submitting a report on Cho’s disqualification to the plenary session. The ruling party’s intent for its inaction remains unknown, but the people would never have given the party the majority in parliament had they known that it would avoid normal and just parliamentary activities as it did Thursday.

The ruling party also violated principles by failing to introduce a bill on the expulsion of Rep. Kang Yong-seok, whom it expelled for making lewd remarks in July last year. Getting approval on the bill from two thirds of incumbent lawmakers would have hardly been easy. Nonetheless, the party should have put the bill up for a vote. Because of this, rumors say the party made a deal with the main opposition Democratic Party to turn a blind eye to Kang in return for agreeing on Cho`s parliamentary confirmation.

Dialogue and negotiations with opposition parties are important, but the ruling party went too far by abandoning its principles. The people are criticizing the ruling party by calling it “a party whose soul has already died.” Yet this criticism is falling on deaf ears. The ruling party kept mum though a picture of former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook stepping on the national flag in the front gate of Seoul`s Deoksu Palace was carried on newspapers. Can such a party with a paralyzed consciousness and decayed eyes take power again? The ruling party`s constitution that sets rules for an internal competition for presidential candidates slated for Tuesday was suspended by the court, an unprecedented occurrence in Korea.

Though the ruling party is in crisis, its lawmakers care only for their own interests and factional egoism is raging. Chung Ui-hwa, who led the party’s emergency countermeasures committee over the past 50 days, was so disappointed over the situation that he said, “The Grand National Party cannot be called a political party as it isn’t equipped with basics.” Former National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-sup also blasted the ruling party by saying, “Politics should be conducted based on sound common sense, but I feel frustrated and disappointed because the Grand National Party is trying to play cheap.”

If such a situation continues, the people will pin no hope on the ruling party even if it revamps its leadership. If the party keeps failing to live up to principles and abstain from obsequious politics while seeking to please interest groups, it will suffer defeat in both the parliamentary and presidential elections next year.