Shame on the mouth of the Democratic Party

Controversy was stirred fast after Rep. Kwon Chil-seung, senior spokesperson of the Democratic Party (DP), made derogatory remarks about Choi Won-il, the former captain of the Cheonan corvette which sank after a North Korean torpedo attack in 2010. The spokesman said, “How dare you can make such bold demand after killing all the sailors under your command?”

Earlier, Choi, the former captain, demanded the resignation of the newly appointed chairman of the innovation committee of the embattled party after it was found that the committee chair had attributed the sinking of the warship to “the hegemonic forces in the United States.” The innovation leader resigned from the chairmanship just nine hours after his recruitment, but the lawmaker didn’t apologize. He kept wondering why the captain was rescued before his subordinates.

However, Rep. Kwon’s remarks are off the mark First, 46 sailors were killed by a North Korean torpedo, not by the captain. That’s the conclusion reached by a joint civilian-military investigation team and an international team. Second, the captain was rescued by sailors at the last minute after he lost his sense from the explosion. He refused to leave the ship to rescue his subordinates first, according to the survivors.

The DP’s insulting remarks about the captain are not the first time. In 2021, a former deputy spokesperson of the party raised controversy after attacking the captain for “not taking responsibility for burying the sailors at sea.” The DP also took ambiguous attitude toward the sinking. Despite DP head Lee Jae-myung’s “trust in the government’s announcement at the time” and former president Moon Jae-in’s respect for “the government’s explanation during the time,” they were reluctant to attribute it to “North Korea’s provocation.” Such a stance could have contributed to nonsensical remarks from the spokesperson. That day was a day before the Memorial Day on June 6.

Kwon served as the minister of SMEs and Start-ups in the Moon administration. The language and stance of such a key politician represents the integrity of the previous government. After the controversy was fueled, he came up with an unfathomable explanation that he made the comment because of the responsibility the captain should have borne even though “I can sympathize with the surviving sailors and families of the fallen.” If the representative really feels the weight of his job as the spokesperson, he must have deep soul searching before it is too late.