Jin Joong-kwon: "The Progressives Have Already Fallen... More Vicious Than During MB and Park Geun-hye"

Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon is giving a lecture on the topic "Talking about Korean Society: The Future of Ideology, Generation, and Culture" at a seminar hosted by the Economic and Social Research Institute held at Choi In-ah Bookstore in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, last July. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon said on the 19th, "In the past, people supported politicians when they did well and criticized them when they did poorly, but today's (political) fandom does not just support the person, they love them," adding, "The progressive camp has already fallen."

On the same day, Jin said on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "I was very shocked and felt lonely seeing people who I thought shared the same perspective suddenly defending Cho Kuk (former Minister of Justice) and Jung Kyung-shim (Cho's wife)."

He continued, "In the past, Noh Sa-mo (Noh Mu-hyun Supporters) used to say, 'If President Noh Mu-hyun is elected, what will you do?' and the answer was 'Watch, watch, watch.' But now, the progressive supporters say, 'Even if my head is broken, [I support] Moon Jae-in,' which is more like a kind of religion than politics."

He also said, "As an interest group, the progressives are doing well, and this atmosphere seems likely to continue, but the progressive camp as a value group that they advocated has already fallen. Not only the Democratic Party but also civic groups have all become corrupt, and intellectuals have colluded to share benefits, so socially, those who would whistleblow when they do wrong have disappeared," he assessed.

Jin added, "Having experienced the MB (Lee Myung-bak) and Park Geun-hye administrations while at school, and now this time as well, the current ruling party is scarier. I think the Democratic Party people are more vicious."

He then referred to the forgery of Dongyang University certificates involving Cho Kuk's children, saying, "They came in to audit and have been taking board meeting minutes for 20 years, digging through the Ministry of Education's people to find cases and oust the university president. This is a kind of political retaliation. They do this to fabricate a whole world. It's ruthless," he said.

Finally, Jin criticized, "Those people are not progressives. Is forging a certificate to get your daughter admitted unfairly progressive? Progressives have had their name stolen by them."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.