GNP moves to use sexual violence issue to enact ultra hardline measures

Posted on : 2010-03-18 11:01 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Some analysts say the GNP is using ‘politics of fear’ to portray GNP candidates in June 2 regional elections as law and order candidates
 floor leader of Grand National Party (GNP)
floor leader of Grand National Party (GNP)

“Grand National Party floor leader Ahn Sang-soo needs to make an apology before the people for his senseless remarks.”

During a Democratic Party (DP) Supreme Council meeting on Wednesday, Lawmaker Park Joo-sun denounced remarks made the previous day by GNP floor leader Ahn, who said, “Crimes of sexual violence have taken place due to leftist education.” DP lawmakers also remarked on the absurdity of Ahn’s contention, citing data from a Korean Institute of Criminology analysis on 54 criminals classified as ‘brutal,’ including Kim Kil-tae and Cho Du-sun, showing that their average age is 35.4 years. The lawmakers pointed out that their ages make them “people who received elementary, middle and high school education when the Grand National Party was in power.” Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Chairman Kang Ki-kab and New Progressive Party (NPP) Chairman Roh Hoe-chan also heaped strong criticism on the baseless “leftist-bashing,” respectively commenting that “You should not look at everything from the perspective of a public security prosecutor rather than a ruling party floor leader” and that “It seems as if not only those who commit sexual violence but those who indiscriminately commit verbal violence should also be subject to electronic tagging.”

Meanwhile, Ahn rushed to explain his remarks after they became the subject of controversy. Floor leader Ahn said, “I was stressing that the crimes have taken place because law and order has not yet established itself in this country.” The controversy, however, has not died away quickly.

While Ahn was making his remarks about leftist education, Justice Minister Lee Kwi-nam paid a “surprise” visit with journalists to Cheongsong Prison. On Wednesday, Lee revealed to the press the face of Cho Du-sun, which had not been seen even during his prosecution proceedings, and repeatedly emphasized “segregation and punishment,” even citing the names of serial killers and rapists Gang Ho-sun and Yu Yeong-cheol. Typically in South Korea, due to the presumption of innocence principle, suspects’ faces are not shown until after conviction. Justice Minister Lee also said, “We need to consider the installation of facilities for carrying out the death penalty and revive the protective custody system.”

Following the rape and murder of a Busan middle school student, the Lee government has been working to drum up public opinion using socially regressive “ultra hardline measures” such as enforcement of the death penalty and the installation of protective custody facilities. The Lee government is proposing retroactive legislation that would permit electronically tagging sexual offenders retroactively who received convictions before the implementation of the Electronic Tagging Law in September 2008. Additionally, there has been a flurry of other plans, including a debate over expanded disclosure of the identities of sexual offenders, principles of investigation-under-arrest for sexual offenders targeting children and adolescents, and the construction of a DNA database for sexual criminals. In other words, in the wake of public shock over the crimes and riding on a wave of seething public sentiment, every imaginable type of “drastic measure” has been presented. Nowhere to be seen are the debates over double jeopardy, human rights infringement, or efficacy.

Some analysts are suggesting that Ahn’s remarks about “leftist education” and Lee’s “surprise visit” are part of a strategy aimed at publicly strengthening conservatives ahead of the June 2 regional elections. Ahn Byung-jin, professor of American Studies at Kyunghee Cyber University, said, “This is a typical negative campaign strategy, emphasizing hard-line conservative law and order and framing those who take issue with the GNP’s policies as ‘weak progressives’ or ‘criminal-friendly progressives.’” Professor Ahn also said, “The conservatives’ sense of concern probably deepened as democracy and reform forces came out for these regional elections with issues that can appeal to a large portion of the working class, including opposition to the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project and free school lunches.”

Noting the fact that Ahn Sang-soo’s remarks came at a meeting for the establishment of the “Citizens’ Alliance for Proper Education,” which is working to nominate candidates who are opposed to the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU, Jeon Gyo Jo), Choi Young-hee and fourteen other Democratic Party lawmakers commented that the remarks emerged out of a project in which the GNP, on the defensive over the school lunches issue, is seeking to turn the superintendent of education elections into a “KTU vs. anti-KTU” battle.

DLP spokesman Woo Wi-young commented, “It even makes one concerned that the Lee Myung-bak and Grand National Party government is aiming at a revival of the ‘politics of fear disguised as law and order,’ utilizing citizens’ anger at crimes against humanity.”

Indeed, an official with the GNP’s local election planning team said, “Because calls from conservatives to enforce hard-line laws for brutal crimes have been strong, the party is also obliged to express that type of opinion.”

However, unfavorable reactions to the negative campaign strategy have been emerging not only from opposition parties, but from within the ruling party as well. A lawmaker and key associate of President Lee Myung-bak said that it is “realistically impossible to turn back history, as with the introduction of a protective custody system.”

The lawmaker added, “For the elections, rather than simply talking about strengthening public safety, they should be presenting alternatives for fixing institutional weaknesses, including strengthening the social safety net and offering protections for the disadvantaged.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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