[Editorial] The country should be angry, not the president

President Roh Moo-hyun has again said he could reduce the length of his term in office. While telling Tuesday's cabinet meeting about his decision to withdraw his nomination of Chon Hyo-suk to the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, he said that "disputes about every last detail regarding my exercising of presidential authority to make appointments has made employing my authority as president difficult." He then hinted at the possibility of leaving the ruling Uri Party and said he "hopes to avoid becoming the first president who doesn't complete his term." He was meaning to say that he is going to do his best but might quit if he thinks circumstances require it.

You can appreciate that the president must feel very frustrated and powerless at the fact that nothing seems to be working right for him, and everywhere he looks, things are stuck in place. The main opposition Grand National Party opposes him just for the sake of opposing him and the ruling party tells him to stay removed from everyday politics. It would feel like he has no one to lean on. He has nothing left of his dignity as president, either, now that everyone he has invited to the Blue House for a powwow with leading members of the National Assembly has rejected the invitation. Perhaps this is why he again feels "a sense of crisis about being unable to carry out the role of president" (May 2003), to the point he remembered the part about saying he "could retire to behind the scenes or reduce the current presidential term" (August 2005).

The president is obligated to protect the constitution, and as such, there are things he should say and things he shouldn't. Leaving the ruling party is inconsistent enough with taking responsibility for politics at the practical level, but saying that you could even quit altogether is not something anyone is going to sympathize with, no matter what the circumstances. It is the people who can vote for a president, and the people that can decide he should quit; it is not the president's decision. Some say he might be trying to use the "resignation card" to pressure the political landscape with his displeasure and some demands, but that, too, would be wrong of him. In the many vacuums witnessed in the constitutional government since the founding of the Republic of Korea, the Korean people have consistently opposed any such situation, whether caused by external or internal governmental factors. The reason there was such an explosion of anger toward the Grand National and Democratic parties following their impeachment vote for the president a few years back was because the country saw it as a lame attempt to disrupt constitutional rule. Should a president who talks about "popular participation" be making the populace so uneasy?

It is the people who should be angry, not the president, because they are suffering under the weight of skyrocketing real estate prices and worries over how to educate their children. President Roh has more than a year left in his term in office. Does he want history to remember him as a president who felt so powerless that he just gave up?

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