Foul-mothed NPAD lawmaker Jeong Cheong-rae

New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) Supreme Council member Jeong Cheong-rae has caused controversy over his foul-mothed comments. In 2012, Jeong posted "Myungbak fades the soonest" on his twitter account as the New Year’s four word idiom. Jeong made up the idiom by twisting "the fairest flowers fade the soonest" to curse the then President Lee Myung-bak to die soon. When criticizing the Korean spy agency’s manipulation of Internet comments in 2013, Jeong left a comment that "the elected by manipulation leave the office, manipulators go to jail." He despised President Park Geun-hye by calling her as "the elected by manipulation" and called for her resignation.

Jeong made a mockery of Rep. Joo Seung-yong at the party’s Supreme Council on Thursday by saying, “What is more problematic is that he threatened as if he would resign.” It was a snide comment about Joo, who reversed his pledge for resignation to take responsibility for the defeats in parliamentary by-elections on April 29. Upset by that comment, Rep. Joo announced his resignation despite NPAD Chairman Moon Jae-in’s dissuasion. Chairman Moon asked Jeong to apologize to Joo but Jeong refused and said, “There is no reason to apologize.” The already-troubled main opposition party was thrown into disorder by the rough words for a whole day.

A politician’s level is determined by level of his words. If a politician wants to make a scathing criticism, witty remarks may help. Soviet Union’s First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, well-known for being unsophisticated, was able to say such elegant words as ‘They (politicians) promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.’ If Jeong wanted to criticize Joo who only talked about resignation without taking action, Jeong could have said, “Resignation is not a matter of words but of will.” It is inappropriate to use a coarse expression‍ such as ‘threaten’ in front of others unless a speaker wants to start a fight with a listener.

In criticism of NAPD Chairman Moon when he visited to pay tribute to the graves of former presidents Lee Seung-man and Park Jung-hee at the Seoul National Cemetery as his first schedule after inauguration in February, Rep. Jeong said, “Jews cannot pay tribute to the grave of Hitler, even though Germany made an apology for the Holocaust.” But it was an imbalanced comment to liken the former dictatorial presidents to Hitler who slaughtered more than six million Jews. At that time, ruling Saenuri sarcastically called Rep. Jeong as "the worst lawmaker not worthy for the Supreme Council." Is it asking too much to ask Jeong to have dignity in his words to be worthy for the position as Supreme Council member?