Totalitarianism revived in the Democratic Party

The surreal developments in Korea’s legislature are the equivalent of Japan’s ‘fumi-e’.

Kim Hyun-ki

The author is the bureau chief and rotating correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo. “Looking and looking, as I wander alone, the stone path is woefully endless. Ah, it’s raining again in Nagasaki,” says the lyrics of the popular Japanese song “It rains again in Nagasaki.” The song was released in 1968, but ironically, rain was rare in the city of Kyushu in the 1960s. In fact, “rain” was not in the original lyric. The theme words “parting” and “tears” changed to “rain” after several changes from the original version.

The “stone path” mentioned in the song referred to the path to the first church in Nagasaki. The song represented the sorrowful tears of the city as the home of Christianity in Japan and the bloody deathbed for Japan’s Christian followers from the brutal persecution following a strict ban on the Christian faith by the Tokugawa (Edo) Shogunate which had been ruthless and merciless with Christians.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, right, whispers to Rep. Jung Chung-rae — a supreme council member of the majority party and Chairman Lee’s confidante — in a meeting at the National Assembly, April 19. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

The shogunate enforced “fumi-e” — the act of trampling on or spitting over the pictures or images of Jesus or Virgin Mary — as a ritual to sort out and punish Christians and their sympathizers in the country for 230 years from 1629. Those who hesitated were taken away, tortured and killed. The rock of tears in Nagasaki was the very place where the martyrs shared their last moments with their loved ones. It stands as a witness to the history of brutality in utter contempt for the freedom of religion and conscience.

Japan’s shameful ritual of fumi-e in the 17th century has been revived in today’s political circles in Korea. The arrest warrant for Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung was rejected by the court last week. But what happened after the legislature voted down a motion to endorse the prosecution’s request for his arrest for a further investigation into his corruption charges shows how far the majority party can go to take a wrong path. The party leadership threatened to hunt down DP lawmakers suspected to have cast a vote to support the arrest of their own boss. That’s nothing but a political execution. In reaction, DP lawmakers rushed to go online to prove their “innocence,” even though the vote had been a secret ballot.

But who can be blamed for the political farce? The responsibility squarely falls on the voters who elected their representatives. The DP leadership even ordered all its lawmakers to submit a petition demanding that the judge reject the prosecution’s request for his arrest. The idea of legislators petitioning against their boss’s arrest — ahead of a court review on issuing the arrest warrant and before a trial started — was ridiculous. The liberal party even threatened to disclose the list of the signatories of the petition though “the choice to sign it is up to individuals.”

The surreal developments in Korea’s legislature are the equivalent of Japan’s fumi-e, as the DP leadership methodically threatened to sort out the DP members who voted for their leader’s arrest and didn’t sign the petition. Of 30 DP lawmakers suspected of having approved his arrest, 24 ended up signing the petition. Whether the move had affected the judge’s decision to reject the warrant cannot be known. But the integrity of the 68-year party of democratic tradition has collapsed even though the die-hard supporters of Lee may have cheered the draconian approach of the party leadership.

The behaviors of some DP lawmakers foreshown the party’s demise. Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom claimed out of the blue that the judge reviewing the arrest warrant was a classmate of Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon at Seoul National University College of Law to suggest a bias before the decision of the judge. The representative, a former journalist, insisted that the justice minister must have been “worried” about the judge’s possible decision on the arrest warrant even after his accusation turned out to be a lie.

Rep. Kim did not apologize for spreading fake news. It was his habit since he had been a presidential spokesman in the Moon Jae-in administration. He often gave out misinformation and later shrugged it off, saying that such “craft” is condoned in “this field of work.” Those higher in the party hierarchy are no different. Rep. Jung Chung-rae, a close ally to the party leader, also lied casually. In a televised interview five years ago, he claimed that he had heard a phone conversation between then-presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump in “raw data.” When his comment stoked controversy, he said he just added some “flavor” to the issue out of “my humor and imagination.”

Politicians and political parties who just brush off their lying as “crafting” or “flavoring” cannot have a future since they cannot be trusted. They would excuse their witch hunt and political persecution just like that. The Edo shogunate which enforced the oppressive fumi-e eventually fell. After his arrest warrant was rejected by the court, DP leader Lee stressed that the time has come for political circles to practice “the politics that engage opponents instead of eliminating them.” Lee and his party must brood deeply on the words. Otherwise, we may soon hear a DP version of the Nagasaki rain song of woeful parting.