This is the second in a series of interviews with first-term lawmakers. ― Ed.


The key role of a lawmaker is to protect the rights of the people, especially those in pain, said a minority party representative, known for her dedication to fighting discrimination.

Rep. Park Sun-young of the conservative minority Liberty Forward Party has a rather uncommon position as she is a female first-term representative of a minor party.

“The past few years in Yeouido have been rugged indeed,” she said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald.

“My identity as a novice female lawmaker would not have acted so much as a disadvantage if I belonged to the ruling party, or at least the leading opposition party.”

The Gangwon Province-born lawmaker also found it difficult to fit in with the party, which has its base in the Chungcheong region, she said.

The former law professor is nevertheless widely known for her participation in parliamentary legislation and campaigns for the underprivileged.

Her main interests include the rights of the “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese army during World War II, Korean War prisoners and ethnic Koreans deported to Sakhalin in the early 20th century, as well as Korea’s sovereignty over the islets of Dokdo, which is disputed by Japan.

“The voice of minority groups is mostly weak and thus barely audible, but it is to this voice that legislators and justices should open their ears,” she said.

“One of the roles of the parliament is to follow such faint moans and deliver them to the government and to other people.”

It is, however, not because of her identity as a minority figure that she took interest in such matters, she explained.

“The comfort women issue goes beyond the boundary of gender discrimination and should rather be regarded as a serious infringement on universal human rights,” Park said.

The sovereignty dispute raised by Japan over the South Korean islets of Dokdo is to be regarded from a legal standpoint, too, as an issue involving the protection of the nation’s international and constitutional rights, she said.

Rep. Park currently chairs the parliamentary special committee on Dokdo.

“Though often dealt with emotionally, Dokdo is a legal, territorial and historical issue,” Park said.

“The three basic constituents of a state ― territory, people and sovereignty ― all become controversial when it comes to Dokdo, and I felt obliged to speak up as a constitutional law scholar.”

Despite her ardent parliamentary activities, she seems eager to return to school.

“I have no plans to run in the next general election as a district representative,” she said.

“One of the reasons for making such efforts during this term was my wish to return to my students without shame or qualms.”

She also learned lessons during her four years spent at the center of the legislative system.

“The parliament that I explained to my constitutional law classes, was rather an ideal fiction far from the reality,” she said.

“Looking from the inside, our assembly still has much to do in order to step out of the mudslinging and conform to its constitutional definition.”

It was on such concerns that Park boycotted the use of violence within the parliament.

“I may raise my hand and ask for a chance to debate about an issue, but would never walk out of my seat and approach the speaker’s platform without authorization,” she said.

Rep. Park was the one who filed a petition to the parliamentary ethics committee against Rep. Kim Sun-dong of the liberal minority Democratic Labor Party, who set off a tear gas grenade in a meeting hall earlier this month in protest of the ruling party’s rushed passing of the free trade bill.

“I waited up to the last day as stated in National Assembly law but no one, none of the parties would make the move,” she said.

“The parliamentary speaker and the secretary-general effectively abandoned their duty when they did not take disciplinary action against him, and someone had to do the right thing.”

Justice delayed is justice denied, she said, stressing that lawmakers have to step out and speak up according to the given processes in order to fulfill their roles.

“It is a pity that the current 18th National Assembly will be remembered as uncontrolled and full of violence,” Park said.

In order for the parliament to make progress in the next term, it needs to recruit more legislative experts, she claimed.

“The public often criticizes the National Assembly of having too many lawmakers with legal careers, but they neglect the fundamental fact that the assembly’s core function is to draw up, revise and judge laws,” Park said.

“I hope I could teach my students about a parliament which learns from its past faults and follows its constitutional ideals.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)