Making the Soondae

Chuck schools the Korean resistance

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[A Zoom call with Senate Minority Leader CHARLES SCHUMER, House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES, and South Korean Liberal Democratic Party floor leader Rep. PARK CHAN-DAE.]

SCHUMER: Hello, can we hear each other?

JEFFRIES, PARK: Yes, yes.

SCHUMER: All right. Representative Park, thank you for joining us! I know you’ve been through a lot, but I must say you look very fresh.

PARK: Thank you, Mr. Schumer. We are all tired, but also energized by what has happened, and how the people joined us to reverse the situation.

SCHUMER: Well, we could use a little of that kind of energy right here in the United States Congress, couldn’t we, Hakeem?

JEFFRIES: Amen to that!

SCHUMER: I know you don’t have much time, Representative Park, so let’s get to it. First, we’d like to know what unilateral concessions you made to Yoon Suk-yeol.

PARK: I’m sorry, perhaps my English is failing me. Unilateral concessions? You mean concessions without — I think the word is “reciprocity”?

SCHUMER: Correct.

PARK: To Yoon?

SCHUMER: Yes. What did you offer Yoon as a token of good faith?

PARK: Do you mean, after he declared martial law?

SCHUMER: Well, sure. I mean, we assume that when he declared martial law, you offered concessions to show that your people could still work in a bipartisan manner with his People Power Party to resolve the crisis.

PARK: Perhaps you have not been following the news, Mr. Schumer. Yoon had declared martial law. Perhaps that term does not have the same meaning in the United States.

SCHUMER: Well, I do know it’s serious, sir. And you know, we had something like that four years ago, when the then-president sent his people to attack us at the Capitol.

PARK: I remember that, Mr. Schumer. It was a most disgraceful incident.

SCHUMER: I’ll admit it was disappointing. And afterward we tried to get President Trump impeached. And I have to tell you, we made some very generous offers to our Republican colleagues in the Senate. I mean, we were practically giving away the store! But in the end we just couldn’t convince them.

PARK: I have always wondered, Mr. Schumer, why you did not then call upon the people to go into the streets and show that they would not tolerate such an attack on democracy.

SCHUMER: Well — [Looks at JEFFRIES]

JEFFRIES: Our constituents are not really “get in the streets” type of people.

SCHUMER: That’s right.

JEFFRIES: They’re more inclined to — how can I put it — quieter forms of — non-activism.

SCHUMER: Yard signs, donations. Letters to voters.

PARK: But, if I am not mistaken, just the summer before there were mass demonstrations across the country to protest vigilante executions of black men.

SCHUMER: Well, just hold on there, Mr. Park — first, those weren’t vigilantes, those were police officers.

JEFFRIES: Though some of them overstepped by using excessive force.

SCHUMER: Yes, thank you, my brother!

JEFFRIES: And yes, many younger people got in the streets about it, but some of our biggest newspapers made a stink about it —

SCHUMER: Accused us of being anti-police, if you can believe it.

JEFFRIES: — and in our country, that is a very dangerous position for a political party to be in.

SCHUMER: Almost as bad as coming out in favor of Social Security cuts.

JEFFRIES: Though now that Trump is coming back, they may actually do that.

SCHUMER: I wouldn’t be surprised!

PARK: Forgive me, gentlemen, but I have to point out that in the recent crisis, Yoon accused us of supporting North Korea and anti-state forces. But we still resisted because that was a lie, and the people were with us.

SCHUMER: Well, it’s different where you are. You don’t have Fox News hammering you —

JEFFRIES: Not to mention the New York Times and the Washington Post –

SCHUMER: And, like I said, we just didn’t have the votes.

JEFFIRES: So we had to compromise.

SCHUMER: That’s what politics is all about! And we came very close to keeping Trump from coming back into power!

PARK: I see. [Pause.] I am sorry that I don’t have much advice for you.

SCHUMER: No, this has been fantastic.

JEFFRIES: Very inspirational.

SCHUMER: You should be happy that your democracy is so young, and that the memory of tyranny is so fresh.

JEFFRIES: Our situation is very different.

SCHUMER: Yes, I’m sure you understand. Good talking to you, good luck to you and South Korea. So long!

[SCHUMER abruptly terminates the call.]

JEFFRIES: That was cold, Chuck.

SCHUMER: Hmm?

JEFFRIES: How you cut him off like that.

SCHUMER: Oh, I get impatient with these do-gooders. “The people, the people.” They all think the only thing you need is right on your side.

JEFFRIES: Well, they did win.

SCHUMER: Don’t you go soft on me, Hakeem. And if it isn’t too much trouble, I need you to push that pardon angle a little harder.

JEFFRIES: [Groans] OK.

SCHUMER: The people’s business, am I right?