Positions on the Western District Court Riot and Dongduk Women's University Protest
Lee Jun-seok: "Is the Western District Court bad, but Dongduk Women's University good?"
Go Min-jeong: "You can criticize the method, but not the purpose"
Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform New Party, engaged in a verbal dispute with Go Min-jeong, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, over Lee's description of last year's protest against the transition to coeducation at Dongduk Women's University as a "riot." Earlier, Lee shared on social media a news report stating that a Democratic Party lawmaker recently met with Dongduk Women's University students and described the protest as a "problem arising from a lack of communication," and criticized, "Is the Western District Court riot a bad violence for the Democratic Party, but the Dongduk Women's University riot a good violence by pitiful students?"
Lee Jun-seok, Member of the Reform New Party. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group
He argued, "The essence of the Dongduk Women's University incident is not a lack of communication but the barbaric violence in which they expressed their opinions through anti-intellectual and anti-civilized acts before even attempting communication," adding, "The Western District Court riot, which chose extreme violence when their opinions were not accepted, and the Dongduk Women's University incident, which damaged public property in an uncivilized manner, are identical in method and essence."
In response, on the 5th, Go posted on social media a statement titled "I do not agree with Lee Jun-seok's violent way of thinking." She said, "The purpose of the Western District Court riot was to overturn the judiciary's ruling on the detention of Yoon Seok-yeol," and "Because both the purpose and method were irrational and unconstitutional, it is defined as a riot."
She continued, "On the other hand, the purpose of the Dongduk Women's University students' protest was to convey their opposition to the transition to coeducation to the school authorities. Whether the degree of their actions was appropriate is subject to debate," adding, "Even I do not think that all actions to convey opposition can be justified, but no one defines that incident as a riot. The reason is that while the method of protest can be criticized, the purpose of the protest cannot be criticized."
She also said, "There are reports that some students are asking whether the Western District Court riot was a democratization movement. We are witnessing how distortion and hatred expressed verbally are poisoning our society," adding, "Lee Jun-seok's words are no different. The hatred and divisive virus he spreads are dangerous."
On the same day, Lee questioned Go's claims again, saying, "If the acts of damaging school property, destroying the job fair venue, launching DDoS attacks on the portal server to paralyze staff work, occupying university buildings to disrupt classes and academic schedules, and blocking the graduation concert to intimidate fellow campus members are not called a riot, then what should they be called?"
He said, "The reason why riots cannot be called riots is not because they are not riots, but because the Democratic Party applies different standards based on gender," adding, "No matter how much President Yoon Seok-yeol denies the purpose and claims he only intended to warn, it cannot be anything but rebellion, and no matter how much respected Go insists, it cannot be anything but a riot."
He added, "Let's do politics on a bigger scale. Only when the Democratic Party, including Go, consistently upholds the principle that violence must never be tolerated can they consistently criticize both the Western District Court rioters and the rebels."
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