The Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) is enjoying the fifth anniversary of its founding. In its fourth year, it became the third largest party in the National Assembly, winning ten seats in April's Assembly election. When it was founded in 2000, it had 10,000 members and 1 percent of the public's support. Now it has 70,000 members and 15 percent support. That is remarkable progress.
It is a very significant development in Korean political history to have such success at a homegrown progressive political party. It's advance into the National Assembly has established the basis for diversity in our society, since it has changed a political landscape dominated by conservatism, and by creating a path for the progressive agenda. It is also an example of democratic management of political parties, since it is operated by regular bona fine members. The DLP's achievements and capacity at the time of its fifth anniversary are more greater than can be calculated.
Nevertheless, there continues to be criticism suggesting it has only half the success that it should, and that in various areas it has not done all it could. Simple examples would include abolishing the National Security Law (NSL) and protecting irregular workers, as well as progress in social welfare, balanced taxation, and means to reduce the financial burden of private tutoring to supplement secondary education. It has talked about its ultimate ideals, but it has lacked the ability to formulate concrete means to implement policies after having evaluated the realistic compatibility of those ideas.
The DLP needs to to feel both pride and a sense of responsibility as the third largest party in the Assembly. It urgently needs to work to establish itself closer to the will of the people and national sentiment in order to produce realistic policies relating to the people's welfare, engage in intense debate, and a build system for formulating policy. It desperately needs to streamline communication within the party so as to make sure internal conflict is directed in a way that it contributes to the development of the party and the country. Conglomerate unions are a major source of its support, and so it is unfortunate that the DLP is not taking the initiative in dealing with the moral questions at Kia Motors' union and in the issue of irregular workers. We hope to see it working even harder to develop its ability to implement policy, doing so with the mindset that it is realizing the hopes of its 5 million supporters.
The Hankyoreh, 29 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] DLP on its 5th Anniversary |
