On one side of Seoul, the presidents of Korea and the United States were putting their heads together trying to find some answers to problems facing the peninsula. Meanwhile, absolutely nothing was happening back at the National Assembly, other than accusations by its members about who pushed who and who called the other what. It is even more embarrassing to have to look at because the whole mess arose in the process of questions for the government in the area of unification, diplomacy and security. The issue of how to establish peace on the Korean peninsula was passing through decisive stages over in the executive branch, but the National Assembly had broken up into party caucuses to figure out what everyone’s next moves would be on their opponents.

The whole to-do began when a member of the ruling party called US President Bush “evil incarnate” and GNP head Lee Hoi-chang the “root of evil” during main floor comments until members of the GNP stopped him with physical pressure. It has gone on; there is an Act II and an Act III, and so on. The ruling party is boycotting the Assembly, and for the first time the opposition party has opened an Assembly session by its lonesome. The unprecedented situation, when you look at the root causes, has arisen because both sides care only to fight for better positioning for the presidential election, and are not hesitating to use the National Assembly as a tool to increase their influence.

In the unfolding saga, the GNP has responded by attacking President Kim Dae-jung’s two sons, and the ruling MDP has turned around and attacked some three generations of Lee Hoi-chang’s family. On the surface both are all excited about how the other has engaged in “inexcusable violence towards an Assembly members’ commentary” and about “language inappropriate in reference towards the head of an allied state,” but in actuality everyone is just desperate to demonstrate their loyalty towards their leaders, the president and the head of the main opposition party.

What seems to need to be reiterated is that the National Assembly is the main venue for policy debate in our representative democracy, and it should not be reduced to vulgar infighting that is over nothing more than chest beating as members try to prove themselves. The ruling MDP has filed charges against the three “violent” members of the GNP for “obstruction of official business,” and the GNP has filed for action within the Assembly against the MDP Assemblyman who called someone “evil incarnate.”

You would think that having done this, they would no longer feel the need to leave important government business unattended for two days in a row. Unfortunately both are set on reducing the other’s position, and do not want to lose what they think is a good opportunity to do so. All one would ask is that even when one among them does say something offensive, everyone else would hurry up with their public displays of allegiance and please get back to work. If someone shouts an insult at you, shout back if you have to, and then just be done with it. Throwing the meeting agenda aside and challenging the other to fight to the end is something one expects only of drunkards in an alley. It is not mature parliamentary behavior.

(February 21, 2002)