Political dowry for Moon-Ahn-Park coalition

Choi Jae-seong, head of the general affairs division at the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, metaphorically compared the "Moon (Jae-in) – Ahn (Cheol-soo) – Park (Won-soon) coalition," which Moon recently suggested, to marriage. He urged Moon “to propose in a more sincere fashion,” and Ahn to “not demand (Moon) to bring too big dowry.” Judging that whether the coalition will be formed successfully or not would be determined by Ahn’s attitude, Choi effectively pressured Ahn, playing his role as a confidant of Moon. Ahn would naturally feel bad about Choi’s pressure, however, because his call on Moon for truthful reform of the party has been disregarded merely as his greed to seek "dowry."

In fact, the merger between the Democratic Party led by then its chairman Kim Han-ghil, and the New Politics Alliance that Ahn was preparing to establish ahead of the local elections in March last year is no different from marriage if it is compared to people’s life. At that time, Rep. Ahn received generous dowry. Despite having a tiny political force when compared with the giant Democratic Party, he acquired the title of "co-chairman" through the format of a merger of equals. His political philosophy and vision were also reflected not only in the new party’s name but also its doctrine. Ahn secured some political assets during the local elections, and re-elections and by-elections. However, the honeymoon lasted for just four months.

Expecting coalition between political forces to last "for a long time" is out of the question because there are complex interests involved in such mergers. Dowry is agreement that is exchanged like commercial papers to coordinate a labyrinth of interests. The merger among the Democratic Justice Party, the Unification Democratic Party, the New Democratic Republican Party that led to the birth of the Kim Young-sam administration, and the coalition of DJP (Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil) that resulted in the emergence of the Kim Dae-jung government were both dismantled due to dowries. They tied the knot through the dowry of "promise to introduce the Cabinet system" and they separated when the promise was broken.

“On the contrary, I think it was a good choice to merge. It was valuable experience that I gave me a chance to see the bottom of political underground. I have gained some political sense now,” Rep. Ahn said several months ago when he asked if he regrets his party’s merger with the Democratic Party. Choi made an apology over his remarks on dowry to Ahn who reacted angrily. But when one thinks about it with cool-mindedness, Choi’s remarks are neither an act that deserves angry reaction nor a matter to apologize for. Choi simply illustrated that dowry exists not only in marriage between a man and a woman, but also in the world of politics.