Bizarre request to US

LKP floor leader went too far to win election

Main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) floor leader Rep. Na Kyungwon is in the hot seat following media reports that she asked the United States to avoid holding any possible summit with North Korea during the general election in South Korea, scheduled for April 15 next year.

Na partially confirmed the reports, Thursday, saying she did so because if a summit between the U.S. and North Korean leaders was held before the polls, it could heavily influence voter sentiment here in the South. “I just delivered our concerns about a possible distortion of the election results in South Korea by a U.S.-North Korea summit,” she said during a party meeting. “I just said what I had to as the LKP floor leader. I don't think there is anything wrong with this. U.S. officials should know the truth.”

She also alleged that President Moon Jaein and the ruling party used the first summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jongun, held June 12 last year in Singapore, for electioneering, referring to the gubernatorial and mayoral elections that took place in the South the next day. The LKP suffered a devastating defeat in the elections, securing only two out of 17 posts up for grabs, while the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) swept 14 posts, and this prompted the then opposition party leader Hong Joonpyo to resign.

Na seems to believe that the party's election defeat last year was mainly because of the “ill-timed” first Trump-Kim summit. It is partly true that the peace momentum created by the historic summit made President Moon more popular and thus boosted the chances of liberal candidates at the time. However, the LKP's defeat had already been largely expected because it was still reeling from the massive corruption scandal involving the impeached former President Park Geunhye. It lost the election simply because conservatives failed to regain the public's trust. But Na is virtually passing the responsibility for the election defeat on to the U.S. by implying that it picked the wrong date for the Singapore summit. Her perception of reality and way of thinking are hardly understandable.

What is more serious is that she asked the U.S. to consider the elections in South Korea when it has to choose the date for a meeting between Trump and Kim Jongun. What a shame. It was initially reported that she made the request while visiting Washington along with the floor leaders of the other parties last week to discuss pending alliance issues. However, Na said she discussed the matter with “a U.S. official who visited Seoul this year,” raising speculation that it was Trump's former security adviser John Bolton, who opposed peace talks with North Korea.

Her behavior cannot be justified. She should know Trump and Kim won't meet to help her party win the election