Lee Ki Jun, Deputy Prime Minister for Education and Human Resources Development, has submitted his resignation after three days in office. It was bound to happen, because the suspicions about him kept surfacing like sweet potato roots. President Roh Moo Hyun and Cheong Wa Dae have suffered a lot of damage as a result of the whole affair. They need to think thoroughly about why things happened like they did and turn an unfortunate event into something for the better.
The case reveals that there are serious problems in the way Cheong Wa Dae examines the people it nominates for high position. It ignored the suspicions about his being on the board at a conglomerate, the excessive spending from his expense account, and his son's dual citizenship and avoidance of military conscription. It failed make basic judgment about the ethics becoming of an education minister. And when new suspicions arose, Cheong Wa Dae hurried to protect him without trying to check the facts.
The whole affair began with the decision to change education ministers, without any clear reason, only a year after the last change. Roh said the latest change was to push for university reform, but the previous man in that position was persistently working towards the same thing. The situation is disappointing, because you hear talk of discord within the government and an attempt by someone within Cheong Wa Dae to plan one of his own in that position. If true, one might say the Participatory Government's personnel policy is in an overall crisis. There needs to be a thorough inspection of that process.
The case also suggests there are serious problems with the Participatory Government's education philosophy. Lee's approach to education when he was president of Seoul National University (SNU) was market-oriented. Still, Roh called his approach one of "reform," and went so far as to use the expression "the university industry." Efficiency may be at the center of reform at a company, but it is a far cry from education that is looking a hundred years down the road.
Cheong Wa Dae must to its all to find someone more virtuous and who is reformist. It should remember that in achieving reform, ethics and confidence come before all else. Naturally, it also needs to fundamentally revamp its procedures for examining potential nominees. The future of the Participatory Government depends on how much of a lesson it learns from what has happened.
The Hankyoreh, 8 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] The Lesson of Lee Ki Jun |
