hankyoreh

Democratic Party floor leader

By Song Ho-jin, staff reporter

“Being pro-North Korea is anachronistic, but being a Park Geun-hye follower is anachronistic, too,” an opposition lawmaker said.

For several days in a row, Democratic Party floor leader Jeon Byung-hun has used the term “Park Geun-hye follower” in an attempt to stand up to the ruling party’s witch hunt against those accused of being pro-North Korea. By “Park Geun-hye follower,” Jeon is referring to uncritical followers of the president.

The term applies to pro-Park representatives in the Saenuri Party (NFP) such as floor leader Choi Kyung-hwan, who is leading the attack on accused pro-North Korea elements. It draws attention to the fact that the ruling party follows the wishes of the president without any political autonomy of its own.

In Korean, the word for “Park Geun-hye follower” [jongbak] sounds similar to the word that means “pro-North Korea” [jongbuk], a disparaging term used for people who follow the course set by North Korea regardless of what it may be.

“The systematic illegal interference in the election by state institutions has tied down South Korean politics for nearly a year, and public opinion remains divided. The ultimate cause of this chaos and the split in public opinion is President Park’s uncommunicative nature. The attitude of the Park Geun-hye followers who are excessively loyal to her plays a role here,” said Jeon during a meeting of the Democratic Party’s supreme council on Nov. 27. This followed a critical remark the previous day that the issue of Park Geun-hye followers is more severe than the issue of pro-North elements.

Jeon’s point is that some party leaders and hard-line representatives are defending Park and taking the lead in the witch-hunt against North Korean followers, which blocks overtures to work with the opposition party and only makes the political situation even worse.

“They are fawning over the president like a queen,” Jeon said in reference to the attitude of the Park Geun-hye followers. “Ultimately, they do nothing but wait on the president’s every word without taking any action in coming up with solutions, and they fan the flames of conflict and hatred through malicious witch-hunts against pro-North Korea elements every chance that they get. The Democratic Party is opposed to blind support of North Korea, but it cannot accept blind support of Park Geun-hye either.”

“We came up with the word ‘Park Geun-hye follower,’ which is similar to ‘North Korean follower,’ because we needed a simple way to define the lack of communication in the Park administration and we need a way to fight back against the witch-hunt against those accused of being pro-North Korea,” said a key figure in the floor leader’s office on condition of anonymity. “This draws attention to the issue that the ruling party is only paying attention to the president and does not appear to have any independence or autonomy.”

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