Song Seok-chang, the same Assemblyman who was ridiculed for writing a ¡®letter of allegiance¡¯ to President Kim Dae-jung in which he said he would ¡°make like a salmon¡± has now denounced US President Bush as ¡°the incarnation of evil.¡± Last August, when the bill calling for the removal of Unification Minister Lim Dong-won reached the main floor of the National Assembly, Song declared the move was part of ¡°an American plot,¡± and threatened to give up his seat in the Assembly should it pass. Given his previous statements, it would seem that his rude commentary and irresponsible behavior needs no further explanation.
When an Assembly member with the ruling party speaks about the head of state of an ally on the eve of his official visit, and when he does it on the main floor of the country¡¯s parliamentary body using language reserved for enemies, it is a complete disregard for diplomacy and it hurts the reputation of both the Assembly and the country. Even worse, he used the same phraseology found in the North Korean media.
We feel we must take note of the problems this reflects, issues that make it impossible to write off the affair as little more than a little personal comedy on the part of an individual member of the ruling party. His comments came as he was participating in questions for the government, on the floor of the National Assembly, as a member of the ruling party. It is common practice for such commentary to be examined and coordinated by party leadership prior to government questions, and so circumstances are such that it becomes difficult to think of his words as being entirely unrelated to the internal atmosphere at the MDP.
After the fact, the MDP called the comments ¡®highly inappropriate, and completely unrelated to the party,¡¯ but this alone does not free the MDP from the seriousness of the situation. The wrestling on the floor that went on as opposition party members stopped Song mid-sentence should be examined, but his comments towards the United States should be dealt with in the context of his party. If the MDP really means it when his comments have nothing to do with its position, it should look into why he said such things and let the country know what it is going to do with him. If by chance the MDP worried so much about his statements about the head of the opposition that it somehow missed the part about Bush, it will find it hard to avoid criticism for being caught in a trick that ultimately hurt the national interest.
What is even more concerning is that one gets the sense there is a certain degree of sympathy with Song¡¯s view of America within the ruling party. One has to worry about this given the comments about the US coming from the MDP in both official and unofficial contexts. It therefore needs to set things clear for once and for all with clear and resolute measures. The MDP needs to restore the reputation of the country, damaged as it is by the ¡®salmon.¡¯
(February 20, 2002)
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