Apples to apologies: Political parties trade barbs with gifts of fruit

The conservative People Power Party sent a box of pears to the Rebuilding Korea Party after the smaller liberal group earlier delivered apples demanding an apology over the PPP's role in last year's martial law crisis.

Pictured are pears sent by the People Power Party to the Rebuilding Korea Party on Dec. 12. In Korean, the word for pear sounds like the word for “several times over,” which the PPP said conveyed a call to “pick up the pace two-fold.” [PEOPLE POWER PARTY]

An eye for an eye, or in this case, a pear for an apple. The conservative People Power Party (PPP) responded in kind on Friday, sending a box of pears to the Rebuilding Korea Party after the smaller liberal group earlier delivered apples demanding an apology over the PPP's role in last year's martial law crisis.

The PPP’s secretariat labor union said the pears were meant to urge the minor Rebuilding Korea Party to drop its calls for public control of land, cut ties with alleged admissions fraud cases and resolve sexual misconduct scandals.

The message relied heavily on wordplay. In Korean, the word for pear, bae, sounds like the word for “several times over,” which the union said conveyed a call to “pick up the pace twofold.”

The union also cited what it described as hypocrisy over housing policy, referring to Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk’s ownership of a high-priced apartment in Seoul’s posh Gangnam District in southern Seoul despite his party’s stance on land policy.

The Rebuilding Korea Party sent the People Power Party apples as a gift on Dec. 9 with a card that reads “Apologize for the insurrection, cut ties with the far right! We expect courage.” In the Korean language, the words "apology" and "apple" are homonyms. [REBUILDING KOREA PARTY]

The Rebuilding Korea Party earlier sent a box of apples to the PPP on Tuesday as a return gift following the conservative party's courtesy visit marking Cho’s inauguration as party leader. The package included a note reading “Apologize for the insurrection, cut ties with the far right! We expect courage.”

The liberal bloc has described former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched declaration of martial law last year as an insurrection, arguing it violated constitutional limits and amounted to an abuse of power.

In Korean, the word for apple, sagwa, is a homonym for “apology." The Rebuilding Korea Party said the apples symbolized its call for an apology over the martial law crisis.

It sent rice cakes to other parties including the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party, along with a message calling them “comrades for the success of the Lee Jae Myung administration.”

The PPP returned the apples. On Wednesday, the Rebuilding Korea Party released a commentary criticizing PPP floor leader Jang Dong-hyuk, saying the return of the apples showed the party's refusal to acknowledge responsibility for what the minor party calls insurrection.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY HYEON YE-SEUL [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]