‘The Bad Apple’ is the 28th cartoon exclusively for Daily NK by Gregory Pence. A creative and talented cartoonist, Pence works with the latest news about North Korea to throw new light on political, economic and human rights problems in Northeast Asia.

Today, Gregory is talking about South Korea. The country is currently engaged in a complex political battle over the fate of two United Progressive Party proportional representation lawmakers-elect; Lee Seok Gi and Kim Jae Yeon. The two were elected to the National Assembly on April 11th, but serious problems with the legality of the primary election subsequently emerged, and Lee in particular is also accused of having close links to North Korea and of being partly responsible for the shameful violence that flared up at a party central committee meeting on May 12th.

Both Lee and Kim are refusing to resign, and both have also completed their National Assembly registrations. Although hanbok-sporting progressive lawmaker Kang Ki Kab, the head of an emergency committee established to try to clear up the debacle, yesterday demanded again that Lee and Kim stand down, Kim refused, while Lee snubbed Kang by cancelling his meeting completely.

All of which again proves that once the worm gets into the National Assembly garden, it is incredibly hard to get it out.