Shame on conspiracy theories and hate speech

The attack on Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday in Busan is thrusting politics into chaos again. Both the majority party and the governing People Power Party (PPP) have paused their campaigns for the April 10 parliamentary elections. The motive behind the attack — made by a man in his 60s and allegedly a DP supporter — is yet unknown. But an act of terror against the head of a political party is one of the worst and most tragic offshoots of the politics of extreme confrontation and hatred prevalent in Korea. Nevertheless, no sign of change was palpable among the fanatical supporters of either party.

YouTube has been inundated with presumptions, rumors and conspiracy theories since the attempted murder. PPP supporters defined the attack a stunt carefully choreographed by the DP leader himself, while DP supporters claimed it was orchestrated by the conservative government. Many suspicions surfaced over why the DP leader had to be urgently transferred to Seoul National University Hospital on a chopper from Busan despite the smaller-than-an-inch scratch on his neck. Even though such conspiracies were not affirmed to be true, politicians from both parties are gladly jumping on the bandwagon to fuel hatred against their opponents.

A former deputy spokesperson of the DP attributed the terror to President Yoon Suk Yeol who is engrossed in “maximizing national division with ideological remarks.” If this is not sophistry, what is? The PPP is no exception. In the New Year’s greeting event in Daejeon on Tuesday, attendees applauded and cheered for their interim leader Han Dong-hoon when he mentioned the assault in Busan. Some party members even called it “an episode engineered by the DP head” in order to earn public sympathy to help the party win the general election. These kinds of outrageous words and actions are quite reminiscent of the tumultuous days shortly after the 1945 independence of the country and cannot be pardoned whatsoever.

The terrorist’s real motive was apparently to prompt societal confusion and division. Violence can only be addressed when both parties denounce the terror in one voice and solve the problem with dialogue. With only three months left until the nationwide election, extreme splitting of society already reached a peak. It is time for voters to maintain calmness. They must dismiss wild conspiracy theories and hate speech by those politicians backed by their hard-core supporters and cast their ballot based on reason.

To keep various conspiracies and ungrounded rumors at bay, the police must investigate the terrorist quickly and transparently. The police must get to the bottom of the case to clear all doubts. They must also intensify their efforts to protect major politicians ahead of the general election.