On Tuesday prime minister Lee Hae Chan went to president Roh Moo Hyun and expressed his willingness to resign over the March First golf affair. Soon later ruling Uri Party Chung Dong Young chairman arrived at the presidential residence to let Roh know that the ruling party thinks Lee needs to go. Roh made it clear he would "respect the party's wishes" and accept its position. Some people had wondered if Roh would insist on not accepting Lee's resignation, given his style of running government, but now the situation does not have to get so complicated.
We believe the president did the right thing in not hesitating, in making an immediate decision to bring the situation to a conclusion. He may have found the situation something of a dilemma since Lee, as a prime minister deliberately given more independence, has run state affairs with relative stability. But the situation was also one that would allow no further hesitation because of the need to bring normalcy to the running of government. The matter has dragged on for almost two weeks and the whole country had its eyes and ears focused on what was going to happen with the prime minister, a situation that you did not want to see continue.
Lee, for his part, did the appropriate thing to express his intention resign, because government is run on the people's trust. Normal duties as prime minister were going to be impossible since he changed his story about his little golf gathering several times over, and allegations regarding stock investments on the part of the businessmen he played golf with started to snowball. Even the ruling party was pressuring him to resign. Having a prime minister who is given greater independence and authority to run the government is a matter of what principles and framework are in place and not a question of who does the job. It is important in politics to stay reasonable.
Roh's government needs to take a moment and ask whether it has been listening to the voice of the people, and whether or not it has become arrogant. If you look at previous governments, one reason the people turn away from the ruling camp is because of corruption and arrogance, not because of big policy mistakes. If anyone had the slightest bit of concern for what the people think, you would not have had such a high-ranking member of the government leisurely playing golf on the March First holiday, especially in the midst of a rail strike. We hope to see the government reestablish official discipline for the final half of its time in office by doing something about the ethics of public officials, which show serious signs of being in disarray. Even if it ignores the cynical attacks about "democracy movement members enjoying the privileges of power" or "leftists with full stomachs," it is just a matter of basics that members of the ruling camp need to carry themselves more properly if they want to straighten out the how they run the government.
Now that president Roh has decided to accept the prime minister's resignation, we would hope that the ruling and opposition parties would stop making the golf episode an issue of political contention. The prosecution is already investigating the more serious allegations, so there is always time to react when that process is seen through. The politicians need to stop with conditioned responses in which they try to calculate how the matter could be used advantageously in the upcoming regional elections. Instead we hope to see them engage in responsible discussion about resolving socioeconomic disparity, the free trade agreement with the United States, the issue of irregular workers, and other important matters.
The Hankyoreh, 15 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Now That PM Lee Hae Chan is Gone |
