Opposition leaders show poor judgment

Language represents the quality of the person who uses it. Words of a politician are politics itself. It is not too much to say that a politicians' language embody his political ideas, for it sums up his values, perceptions of current affairs and historical awareness.

There can be jokes, pleasantries, hyperbole and slips of the tongue. Words, however, must be judged in a rigorous way depending on the time, place and subject.

"Why do the North Koreans like Jeju Island ?" Rep. Park Hee-Tae, vice chairman of the Grand National Party asked. "There once occurred a rebellion on Jeju Island," GNP secretary general Kim Ki-Bae responded.

These were some of the remarks made during a high-level conference of the opposition party; the duo was a happy match, we must say. Kim said that he was alluding to the mistake of the government in deferring indiscriminately to the demands of North Korea in picking the site of defense ministers' meeting. He might well have pointed out the error committed. But the manner and language used might reflect the impropriety of his character.

Kim defines the April 3 resistance a rebellion and relates it to Pyongyang's demand for choosing it to be the venue for the inter-Korean talks. It is an absurd stretch of imagination.

Ideological orientation might have influenced his perception of the Jeju Island incident as a rebellion, but it was far from adequate for the secretary general of the main opposition party to make light of a tragic event in the modern history of Korea. The incident took a heavy toll of more than one-tenth of the island's population, and caricaturing it in relation to inter-Korean negotiations is quite shameful for a political leader.

GNP president Lee Hoi-Chang contends that even if he approves the rapprochement of the two Koreas in principle, he, as opposition leader, cannot but criticize and advise restraint in the process and specific ways of carrying it out. His argument is right. What matters is the nature of such criticism and attempt at containment.

Judging from the low level of its secretary general's quality, it is open to doubt what better criticism and counsel could come out of the GNP. President Lee should name his aides from among such people who have serious thoughts on history and correct perception of the times.