[Opinion] Lee Hoi-chang’s Assessment of DJ’s Achievements

In ancient China, there lived a merchant who sold both spears and shields. He pitched his spears to bystanders, saying, “Look, nothing can pierce these shields.” Then, he lifted his spears and boasted them by saying, “These spears can penetrate everything.” One passerby asked him, “What will happen if you lance your shields with your spears?” The merchant was embarrassed and couldn’t give an answer. This anecdote appears in Han Feizi, a classic of Chinese political science.

“Mosun,” a Chinese word equivalent to an English word “contradiction” that refers to a situation in which one’s saying doesn’t match his or her act, traces its roots to this story. The remarks from Lee Hoi-chang made in Gwangju last Saturday are reminiscent of the story about the Chinese merchant. The former opposition leader addressed the audience in a lecture prepared by an organization called “Hope for Koreans” that “the Sunshine Policy initiated by former President Kim Dae-jung failed to lead North Korea to reform and open itself to the world, rather, the policy helped the North possess nuclear weapons.” But while harshly criticizing the former president, he highly lauded him for “opening the way for direct dialogue between the South and the North.”

This contradictory judgment for Kim Dae-jung confuses electorates in the same way the ancient Chinese merchant did. If he really acknowledges DJ’s achievement for paving the way for inter-Korean dialogue, he should reasonably give a positive judgment for his Sunshine Policy. Lee must have known that his remarks would be contradictory. Then, why did he say that? As a candidate who presented a traditionally conservative view on national security when he declared his entry into the presidential race, he may have wanted to win the hearts of the conservatives and, at the same time, gain support from electorates in the Jeolla provinces by praising DJ.

However, former GNP leader Lee, who has consistently disapproved of the Sunshine Policy, should have said, “If we had used both carrots and sticks over the past decade in dealing with North Korea, not only sticking to the Sunshine Policy, the North would not have had time and money to invest in its nuclear weapons program. We wasted the decade. After all, Kim Dae-jung gained the Nobel Peace prize for his policy and some 50 million South Korean people ended up living with North Korea’s nuclear weapons.” A genuine leader who acts up to his or her firm conviction should not change words according to situations.

Yuk Jeong-soo, Editorial Writer, sooya@donga.com