The Grand National Party (GNP) has elected Lee Jae Oh to be its new floor leader, and as that happens there are louder calls for a change in the way the party has been campaigning in the streets instead of participating in National Assembly. Observers are saying that the very fact Lee was chosen as floor leader is a reflection of the accumulated feeling of fatigue on the part of party members as its struggle against the Private School Law drags on. The plan he has put forth since being installed, however, goes against those expectations. Lee says the GNP is going to intensify its street campaigns and turn them into an "anti-Roh struggle" that attacks the failures of president Roh Moo Hyun's government.
It would be hard to expect an immediate change in the directions the GNP has taken with its struggle just because it has a new floor leader. Some say Lee's declaration could be more about pressuring the Assembly to revise its earlier revision of the law. But his "anti-Roh struggle" at this point in time is just out of the blue.
According to Lee, Roh's most typical failures would be the Hwang Woo Suk fiasco and the illegal activities of Yun Sang Rim. "We will thoroughly pursue all questions of responsibility and find ways to secure all the evidence," he says. However, raising your voice in the street does not get you to the truth, and you wonder how effective that will be in holding the government responsible. If the GNP really means what it says about going after the failures of the current government, it should start by returning to the National Assembly. Would that not be the only way to do a something like a National Assembly inquiry?
Lee's primary responsibility as floor leader is negotiating with the ruling party about resolving the political situation, which is going nowhere because of the conflict over the Private School Law. That would also be what is wished by the party members who supported him. The way to resolve the impasse would be to start by not making that law out to be something related to the country's political identity. It is time for the GNP to stop boycotting the Assembly.
The Hankyoreh, 14 January 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] GNP Should Attack Roh From Within Nat'l Assembly |
