South Korea: Saccharin

• Share

SOUTH KOREA

The weapons of parliamentary debate throughout the world vary considerably. Britons belabor one another with icy scorn, Greeks bang their desk tops, and Italians hurl inkwells. The U.S. House of Representatives has witnessed its share of fist fights and even, in the 19th century, quick-draw confrontations with cocked pistols on the floor. Black magic has its place in the legislative assemblies of modern Africa. Last week in South Korea, a new, but old, weapon was added to the armory.

The debate in Seoul's National Assembly swirled around a smuggling scandal concerning some 92 tons of saccharin that had been illegally imported from Japan by an arm of the multimillion-dollar Samsung business combine. Charges of government involvement flew from the backbenches; indignant silence wreathed the Cabinet ministers of Premier II Kwon Chung. Then tall, tough Kim Do Han, 49, an independent Assemblyman from Seoul with a reputation as a street brawler, took the rostrum to question the Cabinet. With him he carried a three-gallon can marked "saccharin."

After a brief harangue, Kim said: "I am a man of action, not words, and with action I will hand out a judgment." Whipping the lid from the can, Kim dashed over to the row of ministers seated beside the rostrum and poured the contents over their heads. It was human excrement.

Premier Chung and his Cabinet fled. Four hours later, freshly bathed, they presented their resignations to President Chung Hee Park because "today's incident has greatly impaired the prestige and honor of the Cabinet." Though Park refused to accept their resignations immediately, it seemed that a Cabinet reshuffle was imminent. As for Man of Action Kim, he, too, tendered his resignation—probably to avoid censure from the Assembly.