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Grand National Party lawmaker Choi Yeon-hee is reported to have embraced a DongA Ilbo reporter from behind and fondled her breasts at a drinking party. As a result, Choi has lost his posts as party secretary general and chairman of the nomination screening committee. But even some fellow GNP lawmakers feel that is not enough and want him to quit the legislature to stem the public outcry.
It is shameful if a key party official sexually harasses a journalist in front of witnesses. It is more shameful if the official, like Rep. Choi, previously headed the domestic and sexual violence office at the East Sea branch of the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations. The scandal tips over into farce with the lawmaker¡¯s excuse that he did it because he ¡°thought she was the owner¡± of the bar. Presumably he means it is perfectly acceptable to fondle the breasts of bar owners and that he has been doing so all his life.
Choi¡¯s removal alone will not solve the problem. Flush with the promise of a landslide in the May 31 local elections, the GNP has apparently become unhinged. GNP lawmaker Jun Yeo-ok just disgraced herself by describing former president Kim Dae-jung as ¡°an old man suffering from dementia.¡± No wonder that party chairwoman Park Geun-hye has lamented, ¡°So many things that happened lately are incurring public censure for the GNP.¡± There has been a smattering of such incidents in recent years, such as when others of her flock had embarrassed the party by assaulting caddies on a golf course and swearing and throwing beer bottles at a drinking party.
The GNP should convene its ethics committee and take strong enough disciplinary action against Choi to convince the public. More importantly, the incident must serve as an opportunity for the party to rid itself of the vestiges of its bad old ways.
If it fails to do so, who could take seriously this party¡¯s call for harsh measures against sex crime including electronic tagging of offenders?
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