More DLP links
A bit behind the times I know, but I thought I’d post some more stuff from other blogs on the alleged Democratic Labour Party spy scandal. Pak Noja has a couple of related pieces (in Korean). The first one asks the question, what exactly is a spy? While the second looks at the reasons why the NL (left nationalist/pro-North faction) has been able to maintain its popularity and suggests that allowing people free access to North Korean propaganda would soon lead to the end of the NL.
Meanwhile, Antti has written something about how this situation has rekindled factional strife within the party, focusing particularly on the recent public disagreement between two minority groups: Autonomy and Solidarity (자율연대 - basically moderate social democrats) and All Together (다함께). Although this may be interesting, this is certainly not the main split in the party, since as Antti points out, both of these groups are non-NL and highly critical of North Korea. The underlying faultline is still between the left nationalists (ie NL) and the mainstream social democrats (parts of the former PD faction).
Even with all the hoohah, a delegation from the DLP headed off to P’yongyang as planned, despite much whining from the rightwing press and the National Intelligence Service, but seemingly with the tacit encouragement of the Unification Ministry.
Somewhat tangential, but nonetheless related, is this opinion piece from the Hankyoreh newspaper that I read on the plane back from Chejudo a week ago. It provided a nice antidote to the rabid red-baiting of the Joongang Ilbo editorial I read on the way there… (see my last post).
