LKP decries Moon administration’s “socialist” constitutional amendment

Posted on : 2018-04-11 18:00 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The conservative party is attempting to rally its voters ahead of the June local elections
LKP leader Hong Joon-pyo
LKP leader Hong Joon-pyo

A signboard calling to “stop socialism” appeared at 2 pm on Apr. 10 in the heart of Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood. The setting was the first-floor entrance of the Hanyang Building, home to the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) headquarters across the street from the National Assembly. The message was visible to anyone passing by. It was a reflection of party leader Hong Joon-pyo’s commitment to “rescuing the nation,” with the LKP head decrying President Moon Jae-in’s proposed Constitutional amendment and various economic policies as an “attempt to drag the country into socialism.”

The building, which has produced a president – including Kim Dae-jung, Lee Myung-bak, and Park Geun-hye in the past – each time a political party has used it as its headquarters has now been transformed into the main opposition party’s “forward base to guard the system.”

The sign-hanging ceremony that day was attended by the co-chairs appointed by Hong to the “headquarters for the battle to block a socialist Constitutional amendment and policies”: lawmaker Kim Moo-sung, former lawmaker Lee Jae-oh, and Seoul mayoral candidate Kim Moon-soo.

“The purpose of the Moon Jae-in administration’s inter-Korean ‘false peace show’ is an attempt to radically change the system by abolishing the National Security Act, withdrawing US Forces Korea, and entering a low-level federation system [with North Korea],” Hong said, pledging to “do everything in my power fighting inside and outside of the National Assembly to stop the socialist amendment of the Constitution.”

Observers in and around the party said this was part of a strategy to rally conservative voters ahead of the June 13 local elections. Hong became the first signatory to a “10 million signature campaign to stop the socialist Constitutional amendment” launched the same day. Hong has also been waging a campaign since last fall to gather 10 million signatures for a petition demanding redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons.

Referring to expansions to the public concept of land ownership in Moon’s amendment plan, Kim Moo-sung said, “The idea of everyone living absolutely equally was the slogan of socialism and communism in the past.”

Former Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo, who was “selected” that morning as the party’s candidate for the Seoul mayoral race, took aim at the “capital provision” in Moon’s amendment plan.

“The Constitutional Court called Seoul [Korea’s] ‘customary capital for 600 years,’” he noted.

“The ulterior motive of the amendment is a left-face change in the Constitution to fundamentally tear down hundreds of centuries of Korean tradition and the traditions of liberal democracy.”

“If we accept this, the Republic of Korea will vanish,” he said.

After the sign-hanging ceremony began, a surprise demonstration was held at the scene by members of the group Candlelight Solidarity to Enact Youth Human Rights Legislation which is calling for the voting age to be lowered to 18 years.

“Seeing as they’re here instead of school, [I don’t know] whether they’re students or not,” Hong said.

By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter

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

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