Violence is the enemy of democracy

The majority Democratic Party (DP)’s leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked by a 67-year-old man on Tuesday while visiting a site designated for a new airport in Gadeok Island off the coast of Busan. After receiving first aid at a hospital in Busan, Lee was immediately transferred to the Seoul National Hospital in a chopper. As he lost much blood from the attack, Lee could suffer a massive hemorrhage, according to DP leaders. The police arrested the assailant on the spot and will investigate him on charges of an attempted murder. The alarming development took place with less than 100 days left until the April 10 parliamentary elections.

In a law-abiding country, no type of savagery should be pardoned. Moreover, wielding violence against a party leader poses a direct threat to democracy. What matters most in a democracy is voters’ right to choose their leaders through elections.

Leaders of political parties and their candidates can appeal for votes in diverse ways during campaigns. Voters also can freely exercise their rights to support or oppose certain parties or candidates. But they should do so within the boundaries of the law. In other words, this doesn’t mean that voters can use violence against them. Violence only helps distort voters’ choice and blocks political advancement. No matter how important issues are at stake, violence is not the answer.

In our relatively short history of modern politics, violence against major politicians has been repeated over and over. In 2022, Song Young-gil, chairman of the DP at the time, was hit on his head with a hammer by a radical YouTuber. In 2018, Kim Sung-tae, then opposition leader, was hit on the chin by a young man after he approached Kim by posing as one of his supporters. In 2006, former President Park Geun-hye, another opposition leader at that time, suffered a critical injury from a box-cutter attack by a 50-year-old man during her campaign for local elections. Anyone who wields violence against someone for different political views must be sternly punished.

The episode in Busan underscores the need for more safety protection for political heavyweights. And yet, you cannot advise them to not meet with voters to plead for their support. The police must get to the bottom of the case to find out the whole truth behind the violent attack on the DP leader.

The police have been operating a special team devoted to safeguarding major political candidates during their official campaign period only. But this way, the police cannot prevent a recurrence of such violence. What will happen if the attack is waged by a lone wolf? The law enforcement agency must devise pre-emptive measures to prevent political chaos from sweeping the country before it is too late.