I was walking to work this morning, and noticed the political banners at the big intersection of Gobong and Jungang. I guess it’s not just political season in the US, but here too?
I tried to make sense of the 민주당 (Democratic Party) banner as I waited for the traffic light to change so I could cross the street. It said,
더불어민주당
deo.bul.eo min.ju.dang
[come] along with the Democratic Party
The dictionary gives “throw your lot in with…” as a gloss for 더불어 but that has a bit too much of a negative connotation (as in, just give up and throw your lot in with) in my mind to serve as a good translation of a political slogan, so I preferred to try to read it as “come along with.”
The Democratic Party is the slightly more leftward of Korea’s two parties – I was standing under the banner of their opposites, the more right-wing 새누리당 [sae.nu.ri.dang = “New Frontier Party”], who currently control the presidency through the dictator’s daughter. I don’t think it’s quite time to elect a president (that will be next year), but I think there are local elections and maybe parliamentary ones, coming up.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]