[Editorial] A collective struggle to defend the boss

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[Editorial] A collective struggle to defend the boss

Democratic Party (DP) Chair Lee Jae-myung said he would comply with the prosecution’s second summoning over the alleged favors he offered to private developers over scandalous development projects in Seongnam city when he was the mayor. “Though the summoning is insulting and unfair, I will comply as I lost in the presidential election,” he said.

If the chairman goes to the prosecution office, it will be the third time after his two earlier summons over the Daejang-dong development scandal and the Seongnam FC case in which he is suspected of taking a third-party bribe through the football club he headed as mayor in return for favors for private companies based in the city. As Lee only presented a statement to prosecutors before, he must sincerely answer questions from them this time.

The DP declared an outdoor battle after defining the prosecution’s investigation of its boss as a “legacy of prosecutorial dictatorship and oppression of the opposition.” The secretary general of the party threatened to stage a rally in Seoul over the weekend to denounce the “prosecution-based dictatorship” and the “ruining of people’s livelihood” under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

But a resort to outdoor rallies by a majority party holding 169 seats in the 300-member legislature does not make sense. First of all, the prosecution’s investigation has nothing to do with the DP because most of the suspicions arose when Lee was the mayor. If so, why is the DP trying to fight for its boss? On February 4, a day before the 100th day after the Itaewon disaster, progressive civic groups are to stage a massive rally to “commemorate” the tragic deaths in Itaewon. The DP apparently seeks to rally public support for the embattled party by joining forces with outside groups attacking the Yoon administration whatever it does.

But the DP’s behavior endangers democracy. If it seeks to shake the very foundation of democracy with a populist approach, democracy is doomed. The party believes in the fairness of investigations and rulings when it took power, but criticizes the PPP for being dictatorial and oppressive when it lost power. Such double standards are simply not right. The DP even changed its party constitution to allow party officials to retrain their positions even after their indictments for corruption. That’s not a democratic party.

The public’s pain deepens over the soaring heating costs and consumer prices. If the DP resorts to its signature outdoor rally, ordinary citizens’ pain cannot be eased. As the truth will be ultimately found in a court battle, the prosecution must hurry to indict Lee based on all the evidence it has collected. Lee must deal with his own legal affairs as an individual and the party must return to the legislature.
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