Main opposition party must deal sternly with sexual abuse cases
Some lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and its members implicated in allegations of sexual abuse or corruption are leaving the party one after another. Jeong Jin-gyeong, who had been elected a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in a plenary session of the National Assembly at the party's recommendation, resigned Saturday, only a day after his election. He stepped down over allegations that he sexually harassed three female students while working as a law school professor.
The PPP deserves criticism for recommending such an unqualified person to the all-important committee tasked with unearthing hidden truths behind unfortunate incidents in our history such as “suspicious deaths.” Those working on the committee must be armed with a strong sense of vocation and morality.
On Thursday, Rep. Kim Byong-wook left the PPP after a rape allegation was raised against him. His departure came a day after a YouTube channel claimed that he sexually assaulted a female intern at a hotel when he was an aide to an opposition lawmaker in 2018.
Earlier, two other PPP lawmakers quit the party after corruption allegations were revealed. The three PPP lawmakers followed in the footsteps of their troublesome predecessors who vanished after vowing to return to the party by proving their innocence. Yet their departures from the party are no more than a trick meant to avoid a deluge of public criticism by taking refuge as independents for a while.
Political parties here ― conservative and progressive alike ― have evaded responsibility when they have nominated or recommended unqualified figures for high-profile positions. If the people they guarantee are found to be flawed, the parties should have naturally apologized and taken immediate action to prevent a recurrence of such a wrongdoing. What's certain is that if the parties had dealt sternly with sexual abuse cases and other misdeeds, there would not have been the recent deluge of copycat party exits.