Disturbing ideological debate.

(From The Korea Herald)

One of the most annoying political debates in this country concerns the ideological pursuits of parties and their leaders. Semantic confusion and deliberate distortion of the value orientations of political foes lead these frequent controversies to nowhere.

Touching off the latest round of such verbal exchanges was President Roh Moo-hyun's lecture last week at Yonsei University in Seoul. In his trade-mark freewheeling style, the reinstated president told students: "They talk about 'jinbo' and 'bosu'... They say jinbo is leftist and leftists are the Reds, this is the cancerous (claim) that blocks the liberalism of Korean society. Under capitalism, 'bosu' means changing as little as possible, the stronger preying on the weaker, and in Korea, 'bosu' is strongly attached to their vested rights, to changing nothing. 'Bosu' by whatever name, call it reasonable conservatism or moderate conservatism, means 'no change'..." The president's ideological theorization invited an instant rebuttal from the Democratic Labor Party. Its top theoretician Noh Hoe-chan disputed the president's raising of a liberal banner, arguing that his attitude on labor and economy in general "smacks of a mixture of liberal, reformist and conservative ideas." President Roh is either conceptually confused about liberalism and conservatism or is caught in "a serious error of perception," Noh insisted. Grand National Party leader Park Geun-hye criticized the president for causing national fragmentation, instead of unity, with his fallacious political dichotomy. "Our conservatism seeks to change everything but liberal democracy and market economy. The president's identification of conservatism with absolute refusal to change is an affront to the numerous Koreans who ...