Today the National Assembly votes on a "bill to recommend dismissal" for National Defense Minister Yoon Kwang Ung, submitted by the Grand National Party (GNP). The GNP and the ruling Uri Party are preparing for a battle, calling home members who are overseas and making sure their people will not be breaking ranks and voting against their respective party lines.
Whoever loses the vote will suffer a lot politically. President Roh Moo Hyun's leadership will weaken rapidly if the bill is passed. Uri would quite likely lose its command it has of the political climate right now, and then be dragged around at will by the GNP in September's ordinary Assembly session. Should the bill fail to pass, it is the GNP that would be dealt a blow. Conflict between the GNP's "mainstreamers" and "non-mainstreamers" over how to confront the ruling party would intensify. The minor opposition Democratic Labor (DLP) and Millennium Democratic (MDP) parties would not be unaffected by the aftermath. The situation is undesirable any way you look at it.
Politics is at its essence the work of mediating and finding compromise on conflict occurring as the result of different interests and opinions. Voting it out in confrontation is not the only way to go about it. President Roh is wrong to decide against accepting Yoon's resignation and to confront the situation head on in what they call a "frontal attack." At a lunch meeting with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties he said the dismissal recommendation bill "looks like a GNP attempt to seize the upper hand" in the Assembly. Taking issue with the motivations behind a dismissal recommendation bill submitted by a political party following the proper procedures would not seem appropriate. His attitude is also out of step with popular sentiment.
"If Yoon is replaced the timetable for military reform would suffer setbacks" says the president, but that is hardly convincing. People are important when it comes to reform but so is a structured approach. If reform cannot happen without Yoon as defense minister that means the reform being pursued is that much more fragile than it should be. Measures taken in regards to the shooting spree and other problems can be implemented by a new defense minister. A vote on Yoon would only take a moment but the aftereffects would last a long time. We encourage the president to reconsider.
The Hankyoreh, 30 June 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Roh Must Reconsider on Defense Minister Yoon |
