An insulting, willful illusion

The Cheonan incident exposed many inconvenient truths about our society. The most shocking were the illusions of North Korea so deeply ingrained in the minds of left-leaning progressives, liberals and civic groups. Particularly troubling was the unfathomable attitude of the main opposition Democratic Party, which has the experience of actually governing this country for 10 years. Without a second thought, the Democratic Party took the lead in spreading its delusions among our citizens.

In a government-led joint investigation of the sinking, 24 experts sent from the United States, the U.K., Sweden and Australia concurred that the corvette was sunk by a torpedo attack by North Korea. The international community’s response was no different. The U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, for example, fully accepted the results of the multinational probe, denouncing the North for its ruthless behavior.

However, the DP rallied to vote against a resolution condemning the North at the National Assembly last June. In fact, the DP was the ruling party when North Korea waged a sea battle against our patrol ships in the Yellow Sea eight years ago. We are dumbfounded that a political party with such a history wanted to turn a blind eye to the North’s attack on our warship.

The DP didn’t even bother to investigate the incident on its own. To the contrary, it argued that the Cheonan struck a coral reef or collided with a U.S. military vessel. Such a willfully blind attitude reminds us of its lawmakers marching in the front lines of the massive candlelight demonstrations in 2008 against U.S. beef imports.

Since the North’s bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island last November, 80 percent of our people believe that North Korea committed the attack on our warship, according to a Korea Research survey commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Yet the DP has not changed its stance. Park Jie-won, the current floor leader of the party, claimed that “our people as well as international scholars” still have doubts about the cause of the sinking. Which people and international scholars is he talking about? If the DP had abandoned its loopy position on the North and regained its rationality, the North would not have dared to fire artillery shells onto Yeonpyeong last year. The party owes an apology to the 46 seamen martyred on our warship, Naval Warrant Officer Han Joon-ho, and the four victims and surviving residents of Yeonpyeong Island.