How to be enslaved to the party

Choi Hoon
The author is the chief editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Political aspirants hoping to run in the April 10 parliamentary elections are immersed in their ambitions. We should be cheering on their passion and goals to contribute their social experiences for the good of the country and the people. But the reality they face is cruel. “The hard-liners mobilize a cheering squad to endorse whatever the party wants at a general meeting. Disciplinary action follows if members do not follow the party line, which often changes. Blind obedience to the line has become a norm. Bootlicking is inevitable as the party head abuses power with his authority over nomination,” second-term Rep. Cho Eung-cheon said of his experience as a first-term lawmaker after bolting out of the majority Democratic Party (DP) last month.

His remarks hit the mark. And there is no difference between the ruling or opposition parties. Novice politicians, once courted as “talents” and “fresh blood,” become slaves to the party leadership as soon as they get elected. Voters buoyed by all the sweet talk during the campaign also are abandoned after the election day — and are consigned to a servitude of lordly parties. The vicious cycle goes on forever.

What feeds the cycle is a party vote to comply with the party line and the all-mighty head of the party. The Constitution stipulates that a legislator must put priority on national interests and execute duty based on conscience. The reality is the opposite.

In an internal meeting held at the National Assembly on Sept. 22, 2023, the leadership of the Democratic Party instructs members of the majority party to oppose the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s proposal to “cut tax for the rich.”

Let’s take the twin bills passed unilaterally last December by the DP to enable independent counsel investigations. Out of 183 opposition party members, every one voted to approve a bill enabling a special investigation on high-profile figures accused of receiving 5 billion won ($3.8 million) each from private developers behind the Daejang-dong redevelopment scandal.

On the other bill authorizing an independent counsel investigation on the first lady, 182 endorsed it. Such voting is only possible in a single-party communist system in North Korea. Our lawmakers could come first in the world in upholding party decisions. The governing People Power Party (PPP) equally excels in collective action, as all members of the minority party walked out before the vote. The fiasco of combing out and blacklisting the DP members who had voted to approve an arrest warrant for their leader Lee Jae-myung also took place under the same context. To willingly become a slave to the party to maintain their own power is a sad sight. Centrists have entirely gone extinct in Korean legislature.

The practice of obligating that members blindly follow party lines has turned the Korean legislature seriously anti-constitutional and unlawful. Simply put, while the National Assembly is a state organization, political parties are private grouping. Forcibly binding individual lawmakers of a state body to decisions of a private organization is unconstitutional. Nowhere in the law does it compel lawmakers to follow the orders of their affiliated party.

Another harm is caused by the mighty power of the party head. It is the epicenter for all the divisions and conflicts. The post of party head was created under the military regime to build — and control — inner groups. The party head exploits power to run in presidential elections. The head commands party members with the final say in nominations, appointments and funding channels. The position does more harm than good.

As in the United States, our floor leaders elected by party members can lead lawmaking and policymaking. The president also can discuss policies with floor leaders instead of party heads. Loose organizations like the Republican National Committee or the Democratic National Committee are enough to serve the role as a referee ensuring fairness in primary and other in-party election rules and processes.

Demanding blind allegiance and loyalty from party members is outrageously outdated. Our political parties must build a data system rating lawmakers on their legislative performance as an effective guidance for nomination. They must find a new nomination system that can discover — and objectively evaluate — newcomers based on opinions of residents and the candidates’ social contributions.

Thomas Jefferson famously said, “If I could not go to heaven, but with a party, I would not go there at all.” Most Koreans are as disgusted with mainstream parties as he was. Instead of demanding individual candidates give up their immunity from arrest or return their pay if they’re sentenced to a jail term, mainstream political parties themselves and their heads must come under reform first. That is the real beginning of political reform in this country.