South Korea Veers Left

As an act of attempted political suicide, it seemed hard to beat. In the run-up to South Korea's parliamentary elections, Chung Dong Young, chairman of the youthful and liberal Uri Party, advised people in their 60s and 70s to "stay home and rest" instead of voting. As penance, Chung resigned his post as his party's campaign head and went on hunger strike. Yet in a land where political haplessness is increasingly the norm, his gaffe apparently failed to dent the party's standing. Instead, voters last week tripled the size of the Uri Party delegation, to 152, enough for a majority in...