[Editorial] Regular Party Members Should Choose Candidates

About allegations that lawmakers Kim Deog Ryong and Park Sung Vum took bribes from potential candidates in upcoming regional elections and the Grand National Party's (GNP) decision to ask the prosecution to investigate them, GNP floor leader Lee Jae Oh says his party made a "revolutionary decision to break the chronic links of corruption in Korean politics" with what he noted was "first in the history of political parties." The situation was not going to be swept under the rug and so the party took desperate action, but the move is meaningful in that it creates a precedent that will make it hard for parties to defend the behavior of members who engage in corrupt activities.

However, unless there is a change in the system, this will end up having been either a thin trick aimed at escape a crisis or something of a joke. Has not the GNP failed to prevent the selling of local candidacies ahead of the May 31 regional elections despite having moved party offices into a series of tents following the "illegal donation by the truckload" affair?

Preventing corruption in the candidate selection process would not be that difficult. All you have to do is give the authority to choose candidates to the regular party membership. The GNP thinks the problem originates in the decentralization of the process in a way that gives selection authority for neighborhood council members, heads of local governments, and city council members to the top party organizations in independent cities and provinces, but it has not seen the essence of the problem for what it is. As long as sitting members of the National Assembly and the chairpersons of party member councils have a strong say in the matter, people who want to be nominated will continue to have the temptation to use money to get what they want, no matter who has the official authority to choose candidates.

Giving candidate selection authority to the party membership is a basic part of democracy. There is a lesson to be learned from the Democratic Labor Party, which chooses candidates by having members come together at each level of the party organization to vote. Meanwhile, the country a format for holding local recall elections, in which voters could recall corrupt officials. The GNP has recently begun looking positive consideration to that proposal, so one hopes to see its "revolutionary decision" lead to the passage of the necessary legislation in April's Assembly session. That way no one would doubt the truthfulness of its intentions.

The prosecution, for its part, needs to do more than just talk about a strict investigation. We hope the fact it is not hurrying to execute some search warrants has nothing to do with trying not to offend members of the National Assembly.

The Hankyoreh, 15 April 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]