President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap News)

President Park Geun-hye on Monday fumed at the controversial Mass and remarks by a group of progressive priests over the weekend, vowing that such “an act that demoralizes the people’s trust and causes confrontation will not be tolerated or condoned.”

“Things are happening where the morals of the soldiers who have sacrificed their youth and lives for the country are being depreciated,” Park said during a meeting with senior secretaries.

She was referring to the comments made during a Mass by the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice on Friday calling for Park’s resignation over the alleged irregularities in last year’s presidential election. Hours before the Mass took place, Cheong Wa Dae had brought the event to attention by criticizing the religious leaders for plotting to challenge the president.

Boiling point, however, was reached during the event when Park Chang-shin, a senior priest from the Jeonju diocese, made remarks regarding the North’s shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeongdo Island in the West Sea in 2010. The priest suggested the attack that killed two marines and two civilians was caused by the joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. near the disputed maritime border.

 

Priests from the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice hold a Mass on Friday, where they demanded President Park Geun-hye to step down over the alleged irregularities in last year’s presidential election. (Yonhap News)

The comments immediately stoked a war of words between the rival parties. The ruling Saenuri Party ripped into the statement and criticized the main opposition Democratic Party for siding with the priests. The DP called on Park to regard the priests’ words against her as representing the current public sentiment, while drawing the line at the Yeonpyeongdo comments.

Cheong Wa Dae stepped up its condemnation as attention shifted to priest Park’s allegedly “pro-North” comments, while remaining relatively low-key on the call for Park’s resignation over the election scandal.

Stressing the need for tighter security, Park said, “If North Korea was to make an unpredicted attack, we must immediately and adamantly counterattack so that they would not be able to provoke us again.”

Park added, “National security is not just possible through advanced weapons. What is more important is the people’s patriotism and unity.”

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won echoed Park’s anger on Monday and bashed the remarks as “sabotaging the Republic of Korea and aligning with the enemy.”

“The frivolities by the Rev. Park are not only representative of North Korea’s logic but also supportive of the North’s provocations against humanity that took lives by opening fire against innocent people. It is something that cannot be ignored and (he) will have to take due responsibility,” Chung said during a meeting with executive officials.

Such tough rejoinders by the president and the government highlight the administration’s intolerance of and full-fledged fight against those deemed to be pro-North Korea, exemplified in the Justice Ministry’s move to dissolve leftist Unified Progressive Party, observers said.

They also noted the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice were part of the DP-led pan-opposition group, making the controversy a good point of attack against the opposition.

Saenuri members of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee decided to adopt a resolution against priest Park and the priests’ association for “justifying the North’s provocation.”

They called on the association to apologize to the people for “seriously insulting the soldiers and to hold a Mass to ask for forgiveness and pay condolences to the dead soldiers.”

The DP, meanwhile, struggled to draw a line between its fight over the election scandal and the priest’s controversial remarks as their demands for a special probe appeared to lose steam.

“The source of the problem is the uncommunicativeness of the president that turns a blind eye to the election interference and an attempt to cover up the truth,” said DP Supreme Council member Shin Kyung-min.

Leaders of the rival parties gathered in the afternoon upon DP chairman Kim Han-gil’s suggestion that they discuss ways to defuse the boiling tension, a gesture apparently aimed at keeping afloat their demands for a special probe into electioneering.

The meeting, however, ended without progress.

The two parties had been in bitter conflict over the opposition’s demand for a special probe into government institutions’ alleged online campaigning for then-Saenuri candidate President Park Geun-hye.

The Saenuri Party, in an attempt to placate the DP, had accepted a separate demand for a special committee on spy agency reform last week, only to be shunned by the opposition saying it should launch both a special committee and special probe.

The tug-of-war has been holding back other imminent issues, including the delayed designations of ministerial-level nominees, as all as the New Year budget plan and major economic-related bills. The 2014 budget must be dealt with by Dec. 2, according to the original schedule.

Meanwhile, demonstrations of political feeling appeared to be spreading in religious circles.

A progressive association of monks belonging to the Korean Buddhist Jogye Order, for instance, said they it was planning an event to condemn the president’s uncommunicativeness by gathering as many as 1,000 participants. So far, about 700 have joined the move.


By Lee Joo-hee
(jhl@heraldcorp.com)