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[EDITORIALS]Ruling Party, Stand and Take Blame

Published: 05 Jan. 2003, 16:55

The ruling camp's attempt to snuff out the uproar over former Justice Minister Ahn Dong-su's allegiance pledge to the President and his subsequent resignation after a mere 43 hours in office is hopeless. The fiasco has turned the nation upside down and caused the Korean people frustrated for three full days, and yet no one in the ruling camp seems willing to take responsibility. Rather, they are busy pointing their fingers at their colleagues. Given this, how can we be convinced that this type of action will not take place in the future?

We almost pity the ruling Millennium Democratic Party and the Blue House, which are blaming each other for recommending Mr. Ahn to the President. The Blue House gave the impression that it was targeting a specific individual in its accusations and the party openly expressed its discontent over the charges.

The party wondered whether the system of verifying nominees' credentials was malfunctioning and hinted at the possibility that misleading information may have reached the President through Blue House officials.

Somebody must have recommended Mr. Ahn to the President and someone else must have reviewed his credentials. And yet no one has come forward to take responsibility. Some in the ruling camp allegedly blame the press for manipulating public opinion against it.

Six junior ruling party lawmakers have called for punishing the person who recommended Mr. Ahn to the President. The move can be interpreted as a challenge to the party's leadership and an attempt to save their failing organization. The lawmakers have called the current state of affairs "a serious crisis." How desperate they must have been to severely criticize the presidential advisers and condemn the practice, considered akin to coup in Korean politics, of naming officials through unofficial channels.

The party leadership hurriedly shut their mouths saying, "This is not a time to talk about punishing people." The leadership cannot make this crisis go away. The Millennium Democratic Party needs a thorough self-cleaning and an overhaul in national management to survive as a party of the people.