Moon flip-flops stance on slander scandal

When Park Geun-hye, the presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, took issue with the human rights violation of a National Intelligence Service employee by the main opposition Democratic United Party in a TV debate on Sunday, her main rival Moon Jae-in said, “We have to wait and see the investigation outcome. There should be no intervention in the investigation.” As police released the initial results Monday, Moon said, “The Saenuri Party is trying to continue its hold on power through committing illegal acts and cutting corners using national intelligence, police and the media.” He said he wanted to wait for the probe`s results, and when they came out, he changed his position. A strong presidential candidate should neither be irresponsible with his words nor criticize government agencies and the media with groundless arguments.

Police said they investigated the hard disks of two personal computers submitted by the intelligence employee, and found no evidence that she slandered Moon. Now Moon`s party should make a sincere apology to the intelligence agency and employee and be responsible for its action. Even Jin Joong-kwon, a Dongyang University professor who endorses Moon, said on Twitter, “The Democratic United Party should release evidence or otherwise make an apology.” Voices in the party also say it should make a turnaround instead of sticking to the scandal.

The main opposition party, however, blasted police for performing a poor and political investigation instead of apologizing. It took issue with the timing of the announcement, saying, “Police clearly showed that they intended to intervene in the election.” Though the announcement did come an hour after the TV debate, the point is that the outcome of the investigation cleared the intelligence employee of slandering Moon. A suspicion cannot beat evidence.

The Democratic United Party should not make nonsensical arguments or a political offense because the investigation results did not come out as it expected. The suspension raised by the party was flawed in the first place. If it wanted to raise a suspicion, the party should have presented evidence. It blasted the timing of the announcement of the results, but police could not have indefinitely postponed the announcement since they had the outcome. Had the outcome been favorable to the party, the party would have said its claim was vindicated.

The party violated human rights as it tailed and practically imprisoned the intelligence staffer, even causing a fender bender on purpose to find out where she lives and unveiling her personal information. It also undermined the credibility of the spy agency by raising suspicions over the involvement of the administration. Though belated, Moon should humbly accept the outcome of the probe and make a sincere apology to the people for his misdeed.