The troubled United Progressive Party (UPP) is attempting to revise its position on a number of fundamental points, in particular its controversial policy of calling for the withdrawal of the United States Forces Korea (USFK). However, with infighting between inter-party factions rife, it is still unclear as to how the UPP can move forward. Netizens commenting on the Party Renewal Committee’s (PRC) statement remain unconvinced, with many reacting negatively to the UPP debate over the withdrawal of USFK.
Terms such as ‘Jwapa’ [left-wingers], ‘Jongbook’ [those with a pro-North Korean stance], and ‘Jongmi’ [those with a pro-US stance] appear frequently, suggesting that some netizens are not entirely comfortable with the left-wing party’s central policies. With almost two-thousand netizens making their feelings known when the article was reposted on Daum, the UPP have a considerable task ahead of them if they are to improve the party’s public image in the coming months.
From SBS:
UPP considers revising the full withdrawal of the United States Forces Korea party platform
Recently rocked by the series of scandals involving nomination fraud and the ambiguity over the pro-North Korean stance, the United Progressive Party (UPP) announced that it may drop the ‘withdrawal of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) from the party core platform as a part of the effort to soften the anti-American/pro-North Korean image.
The Party Renewal Committee (PRC) has announced that UPP is seeking to adjust the party stance regarding the United States and North Korea to be more on a par with the average citizen. Park Won-suk, chairman of the PRC, emphasized the need for a more pragmatic approach given the military threat posed by the North Korean regime. In the new party platform published on the 12th this month, the question of the USFK withdrawl was left open, subject to further discussions.
Mr. Park concedes that ‘there are some in the party that have called for some revisions to our party platform. We are certainly open to debate on those issues.’ The decision to replace the popular folk songs usually sung at official events with the South Korean national anthem is also on the line.
Park believes that ‘the identity of the progressives cannot be defined by whether or not we sing the National Anthem.’ The former faction-in-power as well as the National Liberation faction is determined to secure the USFK withdrawl clause in the party platform, and that is bound to cause inflammatory debates
However, the former faction-in-power made clear that they will not permit any unilateral changes to the party platform, opening up further possibilities for in-party fighting.
Comments from Daum:
fsmiss:
Fuck off you commie party ㅡㅡ
양심을행동으로:
I cannot believe that there are people still calling each other ‘jongbook’ [pro-North Korean] and what not here.. Do you honestly think that there are people who genuinely worship Kim Il Sung and admire North Korea..? Not unless you are bat-shit crazy… The conservative twats really must be brainwashed. Do they have any conscience? Why are they bringing up commies? You think half the population in South Korea are commies? According to sugu Koltong [‘conservative shitheads’], all you hear are left-wing, jongbook [pro-North Korean], commies, security, ideological attacks. They are full of shit.
tmvjswlqkq:
Just say one word, ‘Kim Il Sung is a bitch’ ke ke ke ke ke ke ke
훈민정음:
Are you saying jongmi [pro-American stance] is a bigger problem than jongbook [pro-North Korean stance]? Fucking crazy…
KIM.JISUP:
I cannot believe they have not even sung the National Anthem… They have been denying the existence of the state???
아장:
What America wanted was to set up Japan as the bulwark of liberal democracy, Korea was out of the question… So many patriots died defending our country and as a result South Korea was included in the American defense sphere… Don’t think so badly of the Americans here…. Their grunts may cause some problems but overall they are of great help to us…. America, South Korea and Japan are all in this together….. If one of us goes down, all of us go down….. One caveat is the conflict of interest in economic matters…. But if you throw that into the military alliance issue, you are mental…
orz3:
That is not the core issue here!!! No dynastic inheritance! No nuclear weapons in North Korea! Stop North Korean human rights abuses!!! If you put those in your party platform I will believe that UPP is not a jongbook [pro-North Korean] party!!!!!
뭘꼬러보노수키야:
Jongbook is far fucking worse than jongmi. We ought to beat to death anyone who says jongmi is the bigger problem.
후끈영계:
Get the fuck off to North Korea, what are you trying to say?
큰바우:
I heartily welcome the day of USFK withdrawal. But there is a precondition. I want us to develop nuclear missles so that we can save up on our defense budget and use that money instead on welfare. No foreign troop on our soil. I really look forward to that day. But I may not see that day come in my lifetime…
darkdjdot:
No matter how retarded the Saenuri party is, from the state perspective I prefer them to the Democratic United Party (DUP) that stands for universal welfare or the UPP‘s support of the North Korean regime.
풀내:
USFK‘s bases in South Korea are here to prevent communist countries invading us, so the withdrawl means that they want us to be invaded by the communists. Why do they want us wiped out?
공부만하자:
During the Vietnam War, all the ones who called for the withdrawl of the American troopers were communist spies. That was a valuable lesson to learn. Now that we know the true face of UPP, let us filter out the jongbook jwapa and move on.
