Punishing the government or the opposition?

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Punishing the government or the opposition?

 
Kang Won-taek
The author is a professor of political science at Seoul National University.

With the Lunar New Year holiday over, political circles will pay keen attention to what people talked about regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections when they returned home. Certainly, the conversations over holiday meals can make a big difference in the political landscape as it unfolds.

As with most midterm elections, the April 10 general elections are primarily an evaluation of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s two years in office. That’s why the opposition parties say voters must hand down a strict judgment on the conservative administration. Interestingly, however, opinion polls show that many people do not view the election as an assessment of the current government even though Yoon’s approval rating has dropped below 30 percent and the controversy over his wife’s luxury handbag scandal has not subsided.

In other words, even though the administration’s performance is extremely poor, voters do not perceive the upcoming election as a chance to reprimand the government, indicating a somewhat complex mentality of voters toward the legislative election. The obscurity basically stems from the ambiguity about who should be judged first when looking back over the past two years.
 
The governing People Power Party’s interim leader Han Dong-hoon, left, and the majority Democratic Party’s leader Lee Jae-myung are on the campaign trail for the upcoming parliamentary elections on April 10. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

The politics of the past two years have been dominated by the opposition Democratic Party (DP), which controls an overwhelming majority of seats in the 300-member National Assembly. We call it a minority government, but in the United States, it is called a divided government. Looking back at the last two years of politics, it was the DP that raised the major political issues and led the country.

By controlling the National Assembly, the DP led various legislation and flexed its muscles in appointing key posts. For instance, the majority party rejected a motion to appoint a judge as the Supreme Court chief justice, impeached the minister of interior and safety, and even considered impeaching the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission and the prosecutor general. Going beyond the level of criticizing the government at nomination hearings, the DP has wielded substantial influence over the appointments of key government officials.

The DP also controlled the process of enactment. Even when the bills were not urgent or lacked a social consensus, it pushed them for its own interests and then induced the president to abuse his veto power in order to shift the blame to him. The draconian Serious Accidents Punishment Act was also railroaded by the majority party. Now, the DP leader alone determines the way the 47 proportional representatives should be assigned to each party. In New Zealand, a change in the electoral system could be made after two national referendums. But in Korea, the critical change is dictated by a single opposition leader.

The problem is that the majority party does not feel a sense of accountability as they are the opposition. Even though the DP lost the last presidential election, that doesn’t mean that the party totally lost power, as it still controls the legislative branch. The DP is deemed irresponsible because it wielded massive power yet refused to take the responsibility required of its majority power.

In Western politics, the irresponsible opposition often refers to extreme minority parties that are marginalized from the policymaking process. Because such parties have a slim chance of taking power, they can play irresponsible politics to please their diehard supporters. But the majority party in Korea should have demonstrated a sense of prudence and an ability to govern as an alternative political force.

It is time to hold politicians accountable for the power they have enjoyed. In a democracy, an election is about judging the power. Although the president and his party are the primary targets of evaluation, the politics of the past two years have shown that they are not the only ones up for examination. The DP also should be judged by the voters for the unfettered power they have enjoyed. The election outcome will show if voters think one of the two parties is more to blame, or both are liable for the current political deadlock.

In the meantime, a third party was formed during the Lunar New Year holidays. While the members of the New Reform Party are familiar politicians, it still could serve as an alternative to the two mainstream parties that have been engrossed in battling against one another to use their powers without any responsibility. This explains why the discussions about politics during the holidays could not but be intense and lengthy. 
 
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
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