Welcome to the witchhunt
It seems that the return to the ‘good old days’ has begun well before the Roh Moo-hyun government leaves office next year. The conservative forces in the security and legal apparatus of South Korea have made their move and decided to start a major witchhunt against the country’s (moderate) left party the Democratic Labour Party. Either that or in a rather strange tactical move Roh Moo-hyun himself has decided to prove his toughness credentials after the North Korean nuclear test by attacking those to the left of him. In any case, it turns out that the earlier attempts to take down Prof. Kang Jeong-koo were just a dress rehearsal for the real attempt to revive the National Security Law. So two senior members of the DLP have been arrested and accused, along with a Korean-American businessman of being part of a North Korean spy-ring.
I’m in no position to know what the truth is about these people, but one thing is clear: the timing of this is dodgy and the motivations are almost certainly political (as in so many cases where there is the supposed ‘uncovering’ of a terrorist or espionage cell that has clearly been kept on ice for sometime by the security services). There are some more details in English at the Marmot’s Hole, including the interesting facts that the accused are apparently thought to have engaged in such heinous crimes as compiling dossiers to keep track of trends in South Korean society or promoting environmental issues to involve civic groups in the anti-American struggle, and… wait for it, reporting on the activities of the DLP branch in Seoul. It strikes me that even if all this stuff were to turn out to be true then basically what they are being accused of is gathering materials on South Korean social movements and left for passing on to North Korea. So they were spying on themselves and their comrades.
If you need more reading matter (in Korean), here is a statement from All Together (다함께) and an in-depth article in Pressian.
Finally, to get some idea of just how desperately excited the Korean right are by all this and how keen they are to return to the good old cold war days of red baiting and ppalgaengi bashing, you must read this translated editorial from the Joongang Ilbo. I picked up a copy of the paper’s English edition for the first time in years when I was catching the plane down to Chejudo a few days ago and this made me almost fall out of my seat. A sample:
The recent incident has revealed that former and current officials of the Democratic Labor Party are involved in this case. This is an issue that could become a death sentence for the Democratic Labor Party. The party itself has staged protests in front of the National Intelligence Service arguing that the case is fabricated. Protesters also argued for the abolishment of the National Security Law. How can one argue that the incident was fabricated under an administration such as the current one?
No political party can exist outside national security. The Democratic Labor Party has to reflect upon itself, find the internal “red” part and apologize to the people.
It seems to me that crying “witch hunt” is about as good an argument as crying “witch.” There are certainly good reasons to question the NIS and wait until the evidence comes in before drawing a firm conclusion, but you’re misstating the reports to characterize some pretty nefarious (alleged) collaboration as something more like a newsletter.
In fact, the reports state that the North Koreans used this cell to try to manipulate the Seoul mayoral election and probably played some role in orchestrating violent anti-American protests. I’d point out that DLP voters were the real losers in all of this, since Kim Jong Il seems to have had more pull over their votes than the rank and file.
I wonder how you’d react if the right were accused of something similar. Did you do any posts on Plame-gate, perchance?
Comment by Joshua — October 29, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
You could well be right that the real losers will turn out to be DLP voters. As you may be able to tell from my blog, although I’m on the left I’m not a supporter of the DPRK or of the NL faction. However, if they are being attacked for political reasons then that is really an attack on the whole South Korean left which has little or nothing to do with North Korea at all. In fact, what it appears that the South Korean security services may be trying to do is to split the DLP, knowing full well that it is already divided to some extent along NL-PD lines. Already it seems as though some PD factions are distancing themselves from the NL leadership of the party.
As for the North Koreans being able to use such people to manipulate elections and orchestrate anti-American demos this sounds highly dubious to me. For one thing, the DLP is a complex and politically diverse party that cannot be ‘delivered’ in this way. For another, there isn’t really any need to instigate anti-American feeling in South Korea as the US already does a good job of that itself.
Comment by kotaji — October 29, 2006 @ 11:58 pm
Yet, The DLP delegation is in Pyungyang on their official visit, till Nov 4th. to North.
Comment by Jimong — October 31, 2006 @ 7:41 pm
Well, that clarifies things
You have to hand it to the Democratic Labor Party, they don’t pussy foot around. They let everyone know exactly how they feel. A case in point (Chosun Ilbo):
[Democratic Labor Party chairman Moon Sung-hyun] said in his arrival speech the Kore…
Trackback by The Marmot's Hole — November 1, 2006 @ 4:35 am