A chicken rib and a rat

"There are many rats in prison. There is no cat." This is what former ruling Uri Party Rep. Chung Bong-ju said Monday before he was sentenced to prison for spreading false rumors before the 2007 presidential election. This is what he said at the supreme council of the new opposition Democratic Unity Party. The "rat" Chung mentioned referred to President Lee Myung-bak, though Chung did not mention him directly. Chung told key party leaders that he would go to prison to catch a rat. How embarrassing it is for the former legislator to talk like a teenage Internet user to criticize the president.

In 2006, the presidential office of the Roh Moo-hyun administration took issue with a column saying the Uri Party sees President Roh as a "chicken rib," meaning something that is still too good to throw away but has little flesh to eat. The expression is often used to describe a state of limbo, and was first used by Cao Cao in the novel "Romance of Three Kingdoms." The presidential office refused an interview with the newspaper that used the expression, saying, “The head of state was compared to food. It is a social drug." It seems much more vulgar to equate the president with a "rat" than a "chicken rib."

In 2009, a high-ranking Republican of the U.S. posted on Facebook that he was sure that a gorilla that escaped from a zoo was an ancestor of First Lady Michelle Obama. The racist remark quickly drew widespread condemnation and he made an official apology to media. He also deleted the post in question on Facebook. In contrast, Korean politicians seem to recognize such an event as a key career record rather than making an apology.

There is a “3-3-3 rule" in elections. This means that if the ruling and opposition party are neck and neck, three support the ruling party, three back the opposition, and the remaining three decide victory. Comparing President Lee to a rat might have a political impact rallying his opponents. Such criticism that crossed the line, however, could cause a backlash from neutral voters. A politician who sticks to lowbrow personal attacks against his opponent while being nitpicky about criticism against him only show his immaturity.

Editorial Writer Jeong Yeon-wook (jyw11@donga.com)