It’s a special day when you have both the Grand National Party and the Millennium Democratic Party calling President Noh’s support groups the “Red Guard.” Courtesy the Chosun Ilbo:
The organizing of “Citizen Participation 0415,” a candidate-support movement for the coming general election comprising pro-Roh Moo-hyun groups such as “Nosamo,” “Citizens’ Power,” and others, is sparking controversy involving everyone from opposition parties to citizen activists.
The Grand National Party (GNP) considers Citizen Participation 0415 a response to a call made by Roh on Dec. 19 at a rally in Yeoido for the groups to spearhead political reform, and the party come out strongly in favor of prosecuting the president for violating campaign laws.
GNP vice spokesperson Eun Jin-su said that “a country where the president agitates for an illegal election, a country where, in response to the president’s agitation, the Red Guard openly conducts an illegal election as they please, is not a country at all.” He also said that it’s clear that these groups are conducting a support movement for Uri Party candidates while engaging in a number of illegal activities, such as spreading “black propaganda” and manipulating public opinion.
That you’d have the GNP calling Noh’s fans Red Guards should come as no surprise. Yet they weren’t alone:
Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) spokesperson Kim Yeong-hwan said that with the President “mustering his army,” he was not in keeping with the election law or the responsibility of public servants to remain neutral during an election. Saying that the president was agitating and personally entering the elections, Kim added, “In my mind, the only image that forms is that of the Red Guard. Was there ever such an instance even in Peron?€™s Argentina?”
Jesus, the planets must be aligned funny today. Granted, the GNP and MDP have been forming something of an unofficial (and some would say “unholy”) alliance of sorts against the President and his supporters in the Uri Party, but to see both red-baiting on the same day is truly astounding. Heck, to see the MDP red-baiting at all is a bit queer, given that much of that party’s core have spent their political careers being tarred with the “pink” label.
Boy, these general elections are going to be fun.
PS: Pic taken from Picturing Power: Posters of the Cultural Revolution
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Maybe this will help? http://andymatic.com/images/hellocthulu.gif
Destroying the old world
Building a new world
Is what the image says.
I haven’t paid enough attention on contemporary Korean politicians and such enough to have a feel for this coming election. What do you other guys (and girls if any are out there) think?
I would imagine that if Uri Party does well in the election, it would mean Korean society is much more in tune with President Roh than I would have thought possible…..I have been surprised in the last couple of weeks to see Uri Party seeming to rise up. In Korean modern history, parties have split and merged and what not more in line with individual leaders than politics or agendas…….Is this not the same with the new Uri party? And even with all the missteps Roh has shown over the past year, Uri is still rising????? Makes me worry about Korea’s future, but maybe it will get USFK out faster…..
Do you have a Korean link for this?
Few things are more disappointing than the infantile, intemporate and indiscrimate rhetoric spewed by the GNP on a daily basis. Rarely a day goes by without them crying “political murder” or “prosecution fascism” or some other over-the-top overeaction to events. I feel sorry for South Korean voters for the unappealing menu before them this election season. The leftish Uri Party embraces a hazy version of “reform” but few concrete policies; they will be complete patsies for the hard men of North Korea and for militant labour. The GNP are not so much conservative as reactionary and if you think the Korean left is unsavory, check out the Korea right. The MDP are the vehicle of yesterday’s man, DJ Kim. Some observers say the Uris and the MDP will paper over their rift during the election and then afterward forge an opportunistic and unprincipled merger to become the ruling party. Expect big-time “migratory bird” action after April 15. I predict that the western tip of Youido will remain the least productive piece of Korean peninsula real estate south of the DMZ for another 4 years.
Plunge — here you go, sir:
http://www.chosun.com/w21data/.....60412.html
As always, be sure to read through the comments section under the piece — there are some good ones up.
Plunge — I have yet to read a more accurate comment on this blog. I did read yesterday, however, that the MDP is planning to focus their attacks on the Uris rather than the GNP. Still, what the observers that you cited say makes a lot of sense.
You know, on a less-than-serious note, with the GNP (with its support base in the Yeongnam region) and the MDP (with its support base in the Honam region) finding at last something they can agree upon (bashing Noh and the Uris), maybe the President, ironically enough, is actually helping to reduce regionalism in Korea.