[Editorial] Dangerous ties

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea held a rally in Seoul on Saturday, substantially calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down.

The party was going to hold a rally in Daejeon after the first one near Seoul Station on Nov. 2, calling for a special counsel probe of first lady Kim Keon Hee’s alleged illegal intervention in state affairs. It changed locations by holding its rally near a separate rally by civic groups including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which has over 1.2 million workers as members.

“The Headquarters of the Movement for the Resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol,” comprising 43 groups including the KCTU, held their first rally to launch the movement and also to commemorate Jeon Tae-il, the sewing worker and labor activist who died protesting inhumane working conditions in Korea, near the gate of Deoksugung on Saturday afternoon.

The party, alongside four other opposition parties, rallied near Sungnyemun, not far from the palace, in the evening. The Democratic Party mentioned the impeachment of Yoon indirectly, while the other parties did so directly. The party argues that its protest to demand a special counsel probe is different from one by civic groups to demand Yoon’s resignation or impeachment, but that assertion seems close to wordplay.

The Democratic Party plans to hold its third rally on Nov. 16, possibly near the site of a rally by the movement headquarters around the same time. It is likely that their rallies will eventually combine.

On Nov. 6, a court sentenced a former senior KCTU staff member who headed the organizing and industrial action to 15 years in prison on charges of spying for North Korea, and two other former high-ranking officials of its affiliated unions to seven and five years behind bars, respectively, on the same charges. Organizing and industrial action are key KCTU activities.

The court ruled that they had contacted North Korean spies abroad, received directions from them, organized anti-government struggles and reported to Pyongyang. They received directions on 89 occasions and even signed an assurance of loyalty to North Korea.

The KCTU made no apology, however, before rallying for Yoon's resignation. Some claim the organization, one of the country's two major umbrella unions, could be a pro-North Korean group. It must prove that it acts for workers’ rights.

Its current leader is a former member of the Gyeonggi Dongbu (Eastern Gyeonggi) Union, a network of progressive activists belonging to the National Liberation faction that emerged from the 1980s student and democratization movement. National Liberation argues for cooperation with North Korea moving towards unification, through anti-US imperialism including the withdrawal of US forces from South Korea.

Lee Suk-ki, a former lawmaker of the Unified Progressive Party, was a central figure of the Gyeonggi Dongbu Union, too. The Constitutional Court disbanded the Unified Progressive Party in December 2014 for inciting sedition and violating the National Security Act. Lee lost his seat as a lawmaker and was sentenced to prison.

Former members and supporters of the disbanded party reportedly formed the Progressive Party in 2017, which won three National Assembly seats in the last general election on April 10. Two of its candidates became lawmakers thanks to the Democratic Party’s nomination of them as proportional representation candidates of its satellite party. One candidate was elected in a local constituency also thanks to the Democratic Party unifying its candidacy with the Progressive Party in the electorate. Later, the satellite party expelled the two lawmakers back to their original Progressive Party. Some on the right have claimed that the Democratic Party was used by a "pro-North Korean political force" trying to enter the Assembly.

The rallies on Saturday took place six days ahead of the court’s first-trial ruling on Lee’s charges of allegedly violating election law. He and his party may want the rallies to put political pressure on the court. But it is still a serious matter for the main opposition party to try to join forces with a group in which a former senior staff member was sentenced for spying for North Korea.