Two tales of political chaos in parallel

CHUNG HYO-SIK
The author is the political news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Korea is chaotic, but American politics are no different. After Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker, was voted out of his position after eight Republicans supported his removal, the political revenge continues. Mainstream Republicans and elders like former House speaker Gingrich are targeting Rep. Matt Gaetz, who filed the motion to oust McCarthy.

The criticism that Gaetz paralyzed the U.S. Congress amid the international crisis of Israel being attacked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas is a mild one. Gaetz is being personally attacked for the case of his alleged sex trafficking and having sex with a minor, for which the U.S. Department of Justice did not pursue an indictment due to a lack of evidence after two years of investigation.

Isn’t that the same as the situation in Korea? Five members of the Democratic Party, including Sul Hoon, Lee Sang-min, Lee Won-wook, Kim Jong-min and Cho Eung-cheon, are waiting for a response from the leadership following a disciplinary petition by 57,000 hard-line DP supporters for their voting to endorse the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for DP leader Lee Jae-myung last month. Floor leader Hong Ik-pyo has already declared that the party cannot nominate people in next year’s parliamentary elections if they don’t help the party.

Appearing on NBC on Oct. 8, Gaetz said it would be “absolutely” worth it for him to lose his seat in Congress for facilitating the removal of speaker McCarthy. Gaetz is convinced that he helped recover the “regular order” because McCarthy made a compromise with the Biden administration for a “temporary budget” without going through the standing committee review required to increase the federal debt ceiling.

Similarly, lawmakers not loyal to the DP leader argued that they just followed Article 46 of the Constitution, which stipulates that “a member of the National Assembly must prioritize national interest and carry out duties according to their conscience.”

This is the first time in the 234 years of the Congress that the House speaker was removed. It is also the first time in Korea that a motion to approve an arrest warrant for the opposition leader was passed by the National Assembly, only to be denied by the court.

If politics continue to become the epicenter of the problem, rather than solving it, the public loses the expectation for change through political participation. Disappointed voters will turn to a new individual or force other than the existing two-party system. In the United States, the return of the MAGA forces is becoming a reality following the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Congress by Trump supporters after Trump’s defeat in the election two months before. I am already curious what changes will occur in Korea, starting with the April 10 parliamentary elections next year.