"Overrepresentation of Zealous Party Members' Voices... Other Voices Are Drowned Out"
"It's Not About Ignoring Party Members' Voices"
"It Means We Need to Broaden It More Democratically"
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon, who has repeatedly criticized the 'text bomb' from some hardline supporters of the Democratic Party, strongly condemned it, saying, "I'm now used to it."
On the 7th, Cho appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' and revealed some of the text messages sent to him by hardline Democratic Party supporters.
Cho said, "Generally, the messages say things like 'Who do you think you are to be so arrogant?', 'Are you doing favors for others?', 'Don't stay in the Democratic Party, leave,' and 'You can't hide the blood of a former prosecutor,'" adding, "It's not so much the content of the criticism as it is an attack on the messenger."
He continued, "Party democracy must be properly established, but the voices of enthusiastic party members are being excessively represented, drowning out other voices," and questioned, "When have other voices ever been gathered? When have the voices of central committee members or delegates been properly reflected?"
He further stated, "I don't know who directs the (text bomb) attacks, but once the direction is set, they attack in unison, and because lawmakers are afraid, they lower their voices, resulting in a 'one voice' situation," adding, "This has become disconnected from public sentiment, and as this situation has repeated for years, it ultimately led to the party's decline in approval ratings and defeat in by-elections."
Cho emphasized again, "This is not in line with the principles of party democracy," and clarified, "I'm not saying I won't listen to party members' voices, but rather that we should listen more democratically and broadly."
Cho, classified as a 'principled faction' within the Democratic Party, has recently continued to criticize the text bomb phenomenon.
On the 29th of last month, he appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and urged the new Democratic Party leadership to "ask those sending text bombs to exercise restraint," saying, "You need to explicitly tell them, 'Because of you, the party sentiment is excessively represented by you, and this is increasingly seen as representing public sentiment. So please restrain yourselves.'"
However, some Democratic Party lawmakers have rebutted Cho's concerns, arguing that text bombs are merely one of the ways party members directly convey their voices to elected lawmakers.
Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jumin said in an interview on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 30th of last month, "Democracy is a dialogue among numerous subjects," and pointed out, "We must face expressions of opinion called text bombs, and if there are problems, persuasion and communication are necessary."
Fellow party member Jung Chung-rae wrote on his Facebook on the 1st, correcting the term 'text bomb' to 'text action,' and argued, "Lawmakers must accept public scrutiny and action, and be sensitive to public expressions of opinion. Text action serves as a complement to indirect democracy."
Jung emphasized that text bombs act as "a wake-up call to lawmakers' ignorance, misjudgment, and laziness," and "a direct channel for conveying the vivid voices and opinions of the people."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
