[Editorial] End the Abnormal Nat'l Assembly

Politics in 2005 ended with the National Assembly under abnormal operations. It was tragic to have the main opposition party chose not to participate while the ruling and three minor opposition parties passed next year's budget and other legislation. Parliamentary politics has set a new record - not that there is anything to be proud of - by making next year's budget the first ever not to be approved by the full Assembly. You cannot just wait around hoping for politics to warm up and change. Indeed, conflict and confrontation just might be the essence of politics. Right now, however, the situation has gone overboard. The confrontation has become a major wall, and the conflict has become a knot that is hard to untie. The people feel nothing but frustration having to watch the politicians running along parallel lines that never converge.

Lets us first ask the Grand National Party (GNP); how long do you intend to ignore the Assembly and hold street protests? We do not want to take more time refuting the GNP's argument that the Korean Teachers and Education Worker’s Union (Jeon Gyo Jo) will seize the country's schools and teach leftist ideology when the revised Private School Law takes effect. The right way to go about it would be for the GNP to wait to see what the Constitutional Court says, now that the Korea Private School Administration Association has filed for a constitutional petition. It is not what a truly democratic political party should look like when party chairwoman Park Geun Hye quiets those among the membership calling for the party to return to National Assembly by crying. GNP Assemblyman Won Hee Ryong got it right when he said the party needs to see "the blood and tears of the country in its suffering instead of the tears of chairwoman Park."

There is plenty of material waiting for the GNP to use in harsh criticism of the government and ruling party. For one, there does need to be a National Assembly inquiry into the Hwang Woo Suk affair, as the GNP has called for. We call on it to end its street protests and return to the Assembly. That would not mean it is surrendering. True victory lies in honoring the will of the people.

We would like to ask the ruling Uri Party what its plans are for returning the Assembly to normalcy. The ultimate responsibility for returning the political process back to what it is supposed to rests with the ruling party. Doing nothing but blame the main opposition party is like admitting one's incompetence. We hope to see politics return to what it is supposed to be, together with the rising sun in the new year.

The Hankyoreh, 31 December 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]