Gov't, ruling party should't take advantage of Song’s memoir

Gov't, ruling party should't take advantage of Song’s memoir. October. 18, 2016 07:27. by 박제균논설위원 phark@donga.com.

On controversy over former Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-soon’s memoir suggesting that the Roh Moo-hyun administration abstained the 2007 vote on a U.N. resolution about North's Korea's human rights after consulting with Pyongyang, presidential spokesman Chung Yeon-guk said on Monday, “If true, it is a grave and shocking matter.” The ruling Saenuri Party labeled the incident a case in which the former Roh Moo-hyun administration sought to consult Pyongyang on Seoul's inter-Korean policies, and plans to hold an emergency meeting of its lawmakers on Tuesday. The ruling party is poised to bring the issue to next year’s presidential election through a "committee on the allegations in the memoir." The party decided to hold an emergency general meeting on Tuesday to step up offensives.

Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party who had neither admitted nor denied the information in the memoir, remarked for the first time on Monday, “I cannot clearly remember.” In fact, he could not remember the incident, which happened nine years ago. However, politicians use the expression‎ "I cannot remember" whenever they are in a crisis, as if this phrase is the "invaluable sword of a noble family." Moon might have worried about a situation wherein if he admits Song’s claim, he effectively comes to accept the allegations in the memoir, and if he denies and the fact is revealed later on, he would be blasted as a liar.

Regarding the argument "the Roh administration did not ask North Korea’s opinion but informed Pyongyang of Seoul’s decision" made by Rep. Kim Kyung-soo, Moon said, “I think I demanded abstaining…,” he apparently did not consent on the human rights resolution against Pyongyang. It is regrettable that Moon, who calls himself a "human rights attorney," turned a blind eye towards human rights of North Koreans, who are suffering under the most repressive regime.

However, we wonder how many people would be supportive of the incumbent administration that is seeking to blast and corner Moon and the Minjoo Party, after the administration was in a defensive mode amid suspicions over the Mir and K-Sports foundations. It was during the Park Geun-hye administration that South Korea was put under security crisis in earnest, in which Seoul became a "nuclear hostage" to Pyongyang. Even though North Korea conducted its third nuclear test right before her inauguration, President Park leisurely chanted "unification bonanza," and visited Beijing and stood at the watch tower at the Tiananmen Square to inspect a Chinese military parade along with Chinese President Xi Jinping, before Pyongyang conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests. Seoul only came to learn about the North’s launch of Musudan mid-range missile on Sunday after getting notice from the U.S. military, which illustrates incompetence in national security. It is also hardly understandable why the presidential office suddenly put off a meeting of senior presidential secretaries originally scheduled on Monday, which the president may as well have convened to increase Seoul’s preparedness for Pyongyang’s provocations.

On top of the security crisis, the economic crisis is directly linked with people’s livelihoods. Despite this, President Park did not even call her economic team to the presidential office for an emergency meeting. The parliamentary inspection of the government will also end without generating noticeable outcome as the ruling and opposition parties have locked horns due to the "Song Min-soon’s memoir fiasco." The ruling party was already blasted by the opposition as being the presidential office’s subsidiary in the first place for blocking the National Assembly from adopting Woo Byung-woo, Choi Sun-shil and Cha Eun-taik as key witnesses, and thus effectively incapacitated the parliamentary probe. The Park administration should realize that the memoir incident is not a guardian angel that will save the administration from its crisis.