Polemics Flares up on Issues of Left Ideology

As former president of the Grand National Party (GNP) Yi Hoe-Chang defined the present regime as `leftist` on April 3, the Blue House and the New Millennium Democratic Party (NMDP) have voiced their strong criticism on what Yi said. Thus the ideological disputes so far broken out and limited to the presidential primary of NMDP have taken wider repercussion through out the whole political circle.

The ideological dispute on general political arena, which is happening just before the presidential election, may cause fierce social controversy and division of ideological spectrums. This causes the political situation to enter more confused state day after day. Former president of the GNP Yi said during the press conference announcing his presidential candidacy, `Now some extreme faction is trying to extend the leftist regime with intrigue and trickery while changing whimsically their mode of speaking according to the situation.`

When asked about who is responsible for extreme faction from reporters, Yi said, `It is needless to name anybody since many people are worrying about, and even though there are many ways to pursue reform, changes, and development, changing in extreme fashion the basic structures of our nation makes our people nervous.`

Former party president Yi also, in his invitational lecture organized by alumni of the political and economic college of the Koryo University in the morning, argued that, `Although Bolshevik revolution and the emergence of Nazis may be based on hope and expectations of the masses at that time, the direction was false and the history reversed backward, bringing pain and destruction to humanity’.

In response, presidential press secretary Park Seon-Suk criticized the remark saying, `To lead politics with ideological argument is far distanced from what people expect in regard of political advancement.`

Spokesperson of the NMDP, Yi Nak-Yeon also defined the remarks of former president Yi as, `disoriented slip of tongues coming from the hastiness following the drop of popular support`, and urged to `stop old fashioned ideological polemics immediately’.

In related story, a candidate of the NMDP, Yi In-Jae, held a press conference in Taegu and publicly demanded to candidate No Mu-Hyeon to make it clear his opinions on withdrawal of the U.S. forces in Korea, national foundation of the ROK and her legitimacy, and how to pursue the reunification with what kind of values and logics. Candidate No, not responding to the offensive tactics of candidate Yi, aimed his offense at former GNP president Yi saying, `His problem is that he is an aristocrat wrapped in with privilege mentality and deep in conservative cold war views` adding `If he does not come out of this way of thinking, it is a disaster not only for him but also for the GNP’.

In-Soo Song issong@donga.com · Chol-Hi Lee klimt@donga.com