[EDITORIAL] Pondering Our Political Direction

We are embarking on a long Lunar New Year's holiday. The nations' roads are jammed with people who are thrilled to be going home. We hope all ancestral ceremonial tables are filled with happiness.

Yet it is frustrating to see a lack of material for well-wishing remarks to be exchanged on New Year's morning. The endless mud-slinging on the political scene has stripped common people of their hopes. In every guest room where relatives will gather, the Wretched status of politics will be the topic of the day. It is regrettable to imagine the disappointment and fury that will follow such discussions. The leaders of the ruling party and the opposition have taken a break to ponder how to tackle the political situation. They need to come up with an impressive plan that will move the general public. If they are again in the middle of hatching petty plots, it is tantamount to a national calamity.

Entering 2001, we had high expectations for the renewal of Government and bipartisan cooperation. But the ruling party and the opposition demonstrated their commitment to politics of tactics and anachronism. The Korean people are so disappointed that they are mocking themselves for electing such politicians. The political leaders must begin to draw a picture for the new political scene by grasping the gravity of alienated public sentiment and realizing that it stems from their own mistakes, not the other side's. Drawing the right picture will be possible only after rectifying misguided politics and suggesting new visions for the future.

We are concerned as we observe the hard-line stance underpinning the ruling camp's actions since early this year. From lending its lawmakers to its coalition partner to the investigation of intelligence agency funds, the direction taken by the government and the ruling party can be interpreted as an intention of pressuring the opposition and practicing the "politics of numbers." They seem to think that nothing is wrong with them, while blaming all problems on the opposition and the press. We even detect a tinge of revenge in President Kim Dae-jung's slogan, "A strong government and a strong ruling party." But what are the results? The loan of the lawmakers and the restoration of the coalition with Kim Jong-pil, all conducted in the name of a strong government, have further deteriorated the unstable political scene. The ruling camp and the opposition rushed into confrontation, deepening the public's distrust of politics. President Kim and ruling party leaders must look squarely at the fact that the politics they have practiced since the beginning of this year has exacerbated the unstable political situation and led to political retrogression. Their New Year's blueprint should begin with this realization.

Lee Hoi-chang, head of the Grand National Party, for his part, should not place all blame on the ruling party. He should reflect seriously whether he has suggested a blueprint for new politics or if he has just responded tactically to the ruling camp's offenses. Instead of claiming that the investigation into the spy agency's funds amounts to an operation to break up his party, he should make a big decision by solving problems if they have been found. If he clings to quid pro quo based on regional feelings or factional advantages and disadvantages, we have nothing to expect from his New Year's pondering.

We hope that politicians will grasp public sentiment correctly on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, deeply reflect on their deeds and show us the politics of mutual survival when the holiday is over.