In the wake of the police search and seizure of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) server, opposition parties have now arrived at the decision to jointly submit a motion for the dismissal of Prime Minister Chung Un-chan. Chairs of the four opposition parties held an emergency meeting yesterday morning, where they deemed the DLP search and seizure a clear case of suppression against opposition forces and decided to strongly hold the government accountable during February’s extraordinary session of the National Assembly. Additionally, the DLP’s Supreme Council and all of its lawmakers have begun an indefinite protest. The DLP search and seizure issue has become a new source of conflict and confrontation in the political world.

One cannot help but say that the police are entirely to be blamed for the situation racing quickly downhill as it has. As some have already pointed out, the police search and seizure of the DLP serve was a clear example of an excessive investigation. Moreover, despite conducting searches on two occasions, the police have been unable to confirm whether the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU, Jeon Gyo Jo) and the Korean Government Employees’ Union (KGEU) members in question are even members of the DLP. The police are directing their criticism at the DLP, saying that the server’s hard disk had disappeared with important information on it, but they gain nothing more in making this type of statement than advertising their own incompetence for all the world to see. If after all this fuss they still failed to find what they were after, they have nothing to say in their own defense. At this point, it is the epitome of childishness for them to voice complaints and excuses about how the DLP made the server connection channel too complicated, or how the courts did not give them comprehensive search and seizure warrants for online investigations as they do in Germany.

Judging from the recent behavior of the police, they appear to be running around with unnecessarily large swords. It is a worrisome sight. They seem to be stabbing indiscriminately in one place, and if they do not find what they are after, they begin to swing in another direction. According to their logic, they have no choice now but to search the entire DLP headquarters to find the hard disk that has vanished. What is next if they still fail to find it? In addition, the police say that the hard disk in question contains “important information,” but this is nothing more than a conjecture and is difficult to place a great deal of trust in it.

It has been stated before, but this investigation has been off from the very beginning. We are now seeing a vicious cycle in which one quick, foolish move begets another. A political party’s server is the equivalent of a party’s file cabinet and safe in its inner headquarters. If the police state their intention to and search through everything contained in the party’s innermost quarters, what party would calmly accept that and acquiesce? Beyond that, the police have already lost any legitimacy in their investigation by becoming caught up in illegal login allegations. It is our hope that they will soon come to their senses.

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