Choi Kang-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, called President Yoon Seok-yeol “Mr. Yoon Seok-yeol,” saying in a question to the government at the National Assembly on the 5th, “There is no fear of a government that lasts only five years.” Supreme Council member Go Min-jung said during a question-and-answer session with Korea Communications Commission Chairman Lee Dong-gwan at the general meeting of the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee of the National Assembly the previous day, “Seeing his answer, I cannot possibly recognize Mr. Lee Dong-gwan (as Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission).”
The controversy over the Democratic Party’s omission of titles continues. In fact, this happened even before President Yoon took office. On March 22, right after the March 9 presidential election last year, Rep. Choi Kang-wook posted on Facebook, “I will make sure that it is engraved in the body and mind of Yoon Seok-yeol that the people are the owners of the country,” and “I will not bow down to the pranks of fools.” . “The real fight begins now,” he wrote.
As Rep. Choi predicted, after President Yoon’s official inauguration on May 10 last year, the Democratic Party intentionally omitted the titles of the president and his wife. Opposition speaker Kim Eo-jun referred to First Lady Kim Kun-hee as Mr. Kim Geon-hee on TBS radio’s ‘Kim Eo-jun’s News Factory’ in June last year . She always referred to former President Moon Jae-in’s wife, Kim Jung-sook, as “Mrs.” Even though the Standard Korean Dictionary stipulates that ssi is ‘generally used for colleagues or subordinates,’ it claims that it is an “honorific word.”
In a question to the government of the National Assembly last February, Supreme Council member Jang Kyung-tae said to Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, “What’s important is the title,” and asked, “Do you call (Mrs. Kim) your sister? Do you call me your sister-in-law? Or do you call her wife, Kim Geon-hee?” The following month, the Democratic Party Youth Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly asking, “Is Mr. Yoon Seok-yeol the President of the Republic of Korea or the Governor-General of Joseon?”
Last month, Innovation Committee Chairperson Kim Eun-kyung, who came in saying, “I will reform the Democratic Party to suit the public’s standards,” said, “I was appointed as Vice-Director of the Financial Supervisory Service under President Moon Jae-in, and it was humiliating to end my term under Yoon Seok-yeol.” Afterwards, Chairman Kim apologized and resigned for먹튀검증 his so-called ‘proportional voting’ remark, but there was no apology for the naming controversy.
The People Power Party criticized this omission of the title as “a remark that does not show basic courtesy to the people and to the president who was elected through the exercise of the people’s sovereignty in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Korea” (Chairman Park Dae-chul of the Policy Committee). There was also an angry reaction, saying, “It is not only an absurdity, but also a perception that is irrational” (Rep. Park Jeong-ha). A People Power Party official said, “Doesn’t omitting the title mean that President Yoon will not be recognized as president?”
However, during the Moon Jae-in administration, it was the opposite. In December 2020, Joo Ho-young, then floor leader of the People Power Party, said at a party meeting, “The Moon Jae-in and Democratic Party regime’s attempts to destroy the Republic of Korea’s constitution and transform it into a totalitarian dictatorship are becoming more and more extreme.” An official from the Blue House met with reporters on the same day and sharply stated, “The omission of the title of President and the use of Moon Jae-in is a matter of dignity as a politician.”
In 2017, when Cho Won-jin, leader of the Korean Patriotic Party (currently our Republican Party) from the People Power Party, said “Mr. Moon Jae-in” in several places, the Democratic Party responded, “There is a law of gold even in the language of politics. “I am embarrassed to be a fellow member of the National Assembly,” said Park Hong-geun, senior vice-president of the National Assembly, and “please show a minimum of respect for the president.” Hong Ik-pyo, senior vice-chairman of the Policy Committee, continued to say.
The issue of first lady Kim Jung-sook’s title was also sensitive. Since its establishment in 1988, the Hankyoreh has used the title of all presidents’ wives, including Ms. Kim Ok-sook, Son Myeong-soon, Lee Hee-ho, Kwon Yang-sook, and Kim Yun-ok. Accordingly, even after the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, she was referred to as Kim Jeong-sook, but the Democratic Party put pressure on her, saying, “The Hankyoreh’s attitude of upholding principles is standard” (former lawmaker Choi Min-hee). In the end, the Hankyoreh changed her title to Mrs. Her with an apology saying, “I bow my head in apology.”Eom Gyeong-yeong, director of the Zeitgeist Research Institute, said, “Not recognizing the president elected by the people is an act of lying down and spitting,” and added, “Regardless of the ruling and opposition parties, the people must get rid of words and actions that lead to the deterioration of politics without the minimum dignity.”