The opposition goes too far

The Democratic Party’s campaign against the National Intelligence Service’s posting of pro-Park Geun-hye messages on the Web in the December presidential campaign and the NIS’s decision to declassify and disclose the transcript of the conversation between former President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at a 2007 summit in Pyongyang have gone way beyond our expectations. The main opposition party went so far as to use provocative rhetoric - such as “Impeach President Park” or “Nullify the results of the presidential election” - at official events of the party.

Though such belligerent slogans came from a few radicals in the party, many heavyweights of the DP have also joined the chorus. Representative Moon Jae-in, who was defeated in the December election, said Tuesday that President Park reaped the benefits of an unfair election, adding he was deeply worried that the president didn’t mention at all that she took advantage of the spy agency’s support. Two days earlier, the DP’s Lim Nae-hyun raised the possibility of launching a national campaign to nullify the election results unless the government appropriately explains why and how the Park Geun-hye camp engaged in illegal activities in the election.

It’s regrettable that our lawmakers - not political agents outside the realm of institutionalized politics - are engaged in vehement verbal attacks against the incumbent president given the huge impact they could have on our society. In particular, Moon made very inappropriate remarks as a former presidential candidate representing the opposition party considering the explosiveness of his statement, which can easily translate into an intention to not accept his election defeat. Until mid June, he has been saying, “You can’t hold her accountable for an election that was held six months ago. That’s not desirable.”

Kim Han-gill, chairman of the DP, also wrote in a personal letter to President Park that he repeatedly stressed that the party’s demand for a legislative probe into the NIS scandal doesn’t signify an intention to invalidate the election results. His statement has been understood as the official position of the DP. However, all the combative rhetoric of the opposition party only make us wonder if Kim really meant it.

Disregarding results of an election and launching a campaign to annul them would be tantamount to crossing the point of no return. If the opposition really knows what awaits it beyond that point, it must depart from all the bad practices of the past, including such extremist demands.