S. Korean Election Update: Uri’s Support Falls to 9%, Below DLP’s

The most surprising news of this Korean political season was buried near the bottom of a news story about the contest between the candidates for the Grand National Party nomination.  Only the interesting news wasn’t about the GNP candidates: 

The GNP had by far the most support among parties with 52.9 percent. Next was the radical Democratic Labor Party with 10.3 percent, and only then Uri with 9.1 percent. The Democratic Party garnered 5.1 percent, the New Party for Centrist Reform, a[n] Uri splinter group, 3.5 percent, and the People First Party 1 percent. [Chosun Ilbo]  

The DLP, a minor party, now leads the ruling party, albeit  from  a modest position.  New readers may not realize that a sizeable portion of the DLP was recently exposed as little more than a North Korean front organization, and yet,  the party  still polls ten percent. 

This reminds me to ask — isn’t Uri dead yet?  Whatever happened to those bold plans by Comrade Chung and the Dancing Piggy to form a new leftist “People’s” party from the ashes of Uri?  I do not know of another campaign in which  a  party of significance (which is what you are, by  definition,  when you’re in charge)  was so absent from the  public debate.  Not that I’m complaining.  After all,  their actions tell us all we need to know about what they stand for. 

Still, you’d think that six months before South Korea elects its next president and National Assembly, its ruling party would be taking advantage of every photo opportunity to trumpet what it’s accomplished in improving relations with North Korea. While I would argue that the improvement consists exclusively of South Korea winning the privilege of giving the North unconditional aid, there are always some who are fooled by mostly meaningless gestures — joint ceremonies, athletic events, the one-time passage of a single train, and tightly controlled hostage reunions.  I tend to believe that Uri’s voters have always voted their emotions anyway, especially those centered around race, pride, and nationhood.   

In the wake of Agreed Framework 2.0 and its unfolding failure, however, the strain of North Korea failing to throw the South Korean left a bone is showing.  Today, North Korea snubs the South Korean government by not inviting its officials to a photo op to commemorate the 2000 summit, and Prime Minister Han Myung-Sook accuses the North of electoral meddling.  Now the North is raising tensions along the maritime border, accusing the South of violating it and implicitly threatening violence.  This shouldn’t astonish any watcher of North Korea or South  Korean politics, of course.  South Korean political factions frequently fail to seal strategic internecine alliances before elections.  It’s no wonder the ruling party and its testy North Korean ally are having some trouble getting their act together just six months before the next election. Fortunately for them (but less so for the Korean people) the same can be said of their opponents, who will probably win by default alone. 

Still, the aid rolls in, although we already know who will eat it. As I’ve suggested before, South Korea should send corn, not rice, because the North Korean elite are the ones who eat rice. 

Some Anju Links: 

* Things certainly aren’t looking good for the FTA in Congress, are they?   

* Here’s your  deceptive headline of the week: “Korean Couple Drown “˜Due to Poor English’.”  Well, no.  They drowned due to an unfortunate combination of a  car accident and a flood.  Specifically, they drove off a road into  a flooded  river.  After this, explains the Chosun, they called 9-11 and apparently couldn’t explain that their car was filling with water.  This is  a tragic and horrible situation, and if the 9-11 operator really hung up on them, she should lose her job at the very least.  It’s also irrelevant to the cause of death  unless the EMT’s could have been dispatched, arrived, launched a boat, and rescued the unfortunate couple  in less time than it took for the car to fill with water and sink.  In other words, not every sad story has a victim. 

* Kim Jong Il Death Watch: Predictably, the South Korean National Intelligence Service says he’s hale and healthy, but I intend to continue circling these rumors like a buzzard.