National Assemblyman Choi Yeon Hee gave it a lot of thought and still made the wrong move. Some twenty days after he sexually abused a female journalist, he appeared before the country to declare that he would fight it out in court.
From a purely legal perspective, he appears to be making a wise move, because most legal experts say the sexual assault Choi is accused of committing does not usually receive a sentence heavy enough to have his seat in the National Assembly automatically taken away from him. So it looks like he is not going to step down just because of what the country thinks, and will rely on the law.
He is saying he is going to let the law decide whether the stays in the National Assembly even though he clearly did something wrong, and by doing so he is forfeiting his ethical and moral responsibility as a public figure. The law is just the bare minimum of morality, and not all there is to social norms. Even if you think only of the secondary victimization of the woman involved that will take place in the investigation and trial, Choi needs to behave differently from how he is currently. Politically, as well, he might as well be a human vegetable. What is the significance of maintaining his seat when the party he was long a member of, the Grand National Party (GNP), has submitted a bill to the Assembly that would call for his resignation?
It is still not too late. Choi can still recover some of the reputation he has lost by resigning and engaging in an appropriate amount of self-reflection, instead of fighting the sexual assault chargers in court.
Aside from whether Choi himself resigns or not, Assembly members must not try to move past the issue by merely issuing a formal recommendation that he resign, something that would not be effective. Now is the time to amend the National Assembly Act so that people like Choi can be expelled. It is encouraging to have younger members of the GNP collecting the signatures that would be required for changing the law.
The Hankyoreh, 22 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Choi Yeon Hee Won't Get Away With It |
