Fourth-century Rome awoke to some 900 private bathhouses and 11 vast imperial baths. They were naked forums, where commoners traded news of the world and senators exchanged political views without a stitch of clothing. Across eras and continents, the bathhouse has served as a space for candid, unguarded conversation.
South Korea's National Assembly once had its own cheerful faction: the Bathing Party. Formed in 2009, during the 18th National Assembly, it brought together 47 lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition camps around the bathhouse in the members' office building. It even created tongue-in-cheek posts such as "chair of the hot-and-cold water level committee" and "chair of the in-tub dispute mediation committee." Former National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug served as "chair of the hot-and-cold exchange committee." Lawmakers who screamed at each other on the floor built trust inside the tub. One story still told like legend dates to late 2001, when spokespeople from rival parties ran into each other in the Assembly sauna, agreed to "wash away old grudges," and went on to hold a joint year-end party for both parties' press teams.
Abroad, Finland's sauna diplomacy is the best-known case. During the Cold War, Finnish President Urho Kekkonen invited Nikita Khrushchev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, into a sauna. Sweating without a thread on, the two worked through a difficult diplomatic equation: Finnish neutrality alongside participation in the Western economy. It was a victory for the Finnish style of closeness, built on the idea that shedding clothes also sheds one's guard.
Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has drawn attention for his own version of naked politics. Since around the party convention last month, Kim has been visiting the bathhouse in the members' office building between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. to meet fellow lawmakers, according to accounts of his routine. He has jokingly called it "constituency work." The apparent aim is to talk openly, across factional lines.
Korean politics today is quick to tear into dissenters even within the same party. In that climate, cooperation between rival parties is unthinkable. Political conflict cannot be cut away with a single stroke. But surely a channel must be opened for each side to hear the other. Is it really so unrealistic to imagine the leaders of both parties briefly shedding their party colors and sitting face to face in the tub?
