Now I know the GNP’s truly had it - Novelist Yi Mun-yol is apparently joining the party’s nomination committee. The Marmot will always have a special place in his heart for Yi - my July fisking of an abortion of his that somehow made its way into the New York Times landed me an Instalanche (you’ll notice I was a much angrier blogger back then), and for that I’m extremely grateful to him. Still, his promises to help the party “cast off its unsound legacy of conservatism” are pure, unadulterated bullshit. Heck, read his interview in the Chosun (or my fisking of his piece in the NYT) for yourselves.
The only positive thing I can say about this is that at least he admits that the GNP seriously needs to change its identity if it hopes to remain a relevant force in Korean politics, even if he is the wrong man to help it do so.
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Technically, he won’t be a party member. The idea is to have outsiders be on the candidate selection committee, to give those selected more legitimacy and just generally look better.
Even people who dislike Yi the man (and there are many) will like Our Twisted Hero.
He once wrote a short story that among other things compared Chu Miae to a dog that barked to much in defense of its owner (Kim Dae-jung).
Just read the Fisking again and enjoyed it even more the 2nd time. Although Yi served up a softball right over the plate, you whacked it into the next province.
Btw, the big Kyobo downtown sells an English translation of “My Twisted Hero.”
That was a great fisking flashback, indeed, and man what an asshole Yi is as a pundit, whatever his literary credentials. He’ll be in great company in the Hannaradang!