Progressive with a balanced view

Moon Jae-in, a senior adviser to the main opposition Democratic United Party and a leading figure in a faction of confidants of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, questioned the ethical standards of progressives over the Lunar New Year`s holiday. "Before we talk about them (conservatives), we have our own issues. The progressives should think of why more people don`t support them. The problem is our antipathy that we reject the other side because we believe we`re absolutely right," he said. His comments indicate his view that progressives have failed to expand their political territory because of self-righteousness.

In a survey of adults conducted Tuesday by The Dong-A Ilbo, 51.8 percent supported Ahn Cheol-soo, a Seoul National University professor and former IT guru, while 39 percent favored Park Geun-hye, the leading presidential contender of the ruling Grand National Party. Asked to choose between Park and Moon, 46.7 percent selected the former and 38.4 percent the latter. Yet Park`s lead of 8.3 percentage points just half that from the same survey a month earlier. Within the main opposition party, Moon, who seems to be more broad-minded than his sharp-tongued rivals in the party, is rapidly gaining popularity. His occasional criticism of progressives is believed to add momentum to his rising support.

Progressives have often adopted double standards, pointing fingers at conservatives` faults but turning a blind eye to their own. In 2009, Kong Jeong-taek, then superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, was fined 1.5 million won (1,332 U.S. dollars) for violating election law. The progressive Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union urged him to resign, claiming that he had lost the legal and ethical qualifications to serve at his post. When the incumbent Seoul educational superintendent Kwak No-hyun was fined 30 million won (26,631 dollars) for bribery charges and released from prison, the union welcomed his return to work and expressed hope that a higher court will recognize his "goodwill."

The main opposition party has urged National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae to step down immediately given his alleged role in the money-for-votes scandal in the ruling party`s 2008 national convention. On the opposition party`s vote-buying scandal at its latest convention, the party is doing nothing other than urging a fact-finding investigation first. It is regrettable that the opposition`s potential presidential candidates including Moon are silent over the corruption of the party and progressives.

Also problematic is the intent of certain opposition figures to use politics in settling old scores. Moon Sung-keun, a supreme council member and an ardent supporter of Roh, pledged at the party convention to "return the humiliation suffered by former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun." Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said in a recent interview that he wanted to "annihilate" the ruling party in the 2016 general elections. They suggest their intention to take revenge. Politics has the "rule of 3:3:3," or the practice of centrist or moderate voters determining the winner in elections. The current situation might require Moon to play a greater role in that venomous politicians cannot make most people feel at peace.