hankyoreh

By Cho Hye-jeong and Kim Oi-hyun, staff writers
“It’s really shocking. How is the Unified Progressive Party any different from the New Frontier Party? I voted for it because I thought progressives needed more of a voice, but it seems the party is progressive in name only. Seeing it failing to reflect on mistakes and fighting over how to deal with the fallout has really put me off.”
These are the words of “Park,” a 30-year-old company worker from Seongnam, Gyeonggi province, who voted for the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) in the April 11 general election. “I even thought that allegations of rigged opinion polls used in the opposition alliance’s nomination contest for [Seoul’s] Gwanak B [constituency] were just red-baiting by the conservative ruling party and media. But now I wonder if the UPP is not corrupt too,” Park said. “Unless its delegation and all of its proportional representation candidates stand down and it reforms itself, I’ll no longer support the UPP.”
Other UPP supporters that witnessed the proportional representative nomination scandal and the proceedings of the party’s national committee meeting on May 4 and 5 are expressing similar sentiments. Graduate student “Kim,” who says he was a student activist with the National Liberation faction as an undergraduate, said the following:
“I didn’t like the hegemony of the party‘s mainsteam. But seeing [the party mainstream at the steering committee meeting] saying of the outcome of the investigation into rigged primaries that ‘calling it corruption was too much’ gave me goose bumps. Can the third biggest party in the National Assembly, with 13 seats, really say that?”
When it comes to the reason for the UPP showing such behavior, experts point to the fact that the party is a hastily improvised gathering of the former Democratic Labor Party, the former People’s Participation Party and the New Progressive Party that was thrown together before the general election. “The UPP was created in the hope of getting as far as forming a floor negotiation group [in the National Assembly] via the political opportunity presented by an opposition alliance. It was therefore inevitable that its character would be that of a political party formed by factional alliance rather than one where ideology, policies and values are shared,” said Kim Yun-cheol, Humanitas College Professor of Kyunghee University.
Experts, however, agree that the progressive party still has plenty of work to do. The opinion they offer is that as long as the party engages in some agonizing self-reflection, this will prove an asset and a starting point for it in its present form. Go Won, a politics professor from Seoul National University of Science & Technology said, "If the progressive party, a nimble speedboat, can only deal with the current matter in a wise fashion, it will be much better than the UPP, which is like an enormous oil tanker. The most serious problem to emerge this time is one of democratic procedure, and this is one that applies not only to the progressive party but also to the Democratic United Party (DUP) and the whole opposition. The progressive party mainstream stands at a juncture, beyond which it could either end up as a historical obstacle or preserve at least a minimal amount of relevance as an entity devoted to democratization."
Yonsei University sociology professor Kim Ho-gi defended the progressive party‘s decision, saying, "There has hardly ever been a case of lawmakers elected through proportional representation being advised to resign. In a way, the steering committee’s recommendation of resignation could be the best prescription. This is a time of great hardship for progressives and reformists. The progressive party, which could be called ‘authentically progressive’ in comparison to the moderately progressive DUP, is necessary for Korean society, which is suffering from polarization. I hope it overcomes its season of hardship and is reborn as a proper democratic, popular party."
One professor of politics and diplomacy in the Seoul metropolitan area who requested anonymity, said, "The entire party leadership and the proportional representative candidates elected through the fraudulent process must resign and the party must shut down. There is no hope. I think that if such a political party remains, it will be bad for Korean society and politics. The UPP was nothing but a group that came together with the sole aim of winning the election, with no principles whatsoever. A shameless party that took such an approach to the election is suspected of rigging it, then starts squabbling about it will pull Korean politics backwards. Unless it confesses everything and repents of its own accord, Korea’s progressive parties, progressive forces and entire progressive movement could be corrupted."
　
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