&#91EDITORIALS&#93Accept rejection humbly

The National Assembly yesterday rejected Yoon Sung-sig as the new chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection. Appointing the nation’s top auditor is a task that requires Assembly approval. Thus, the decision should be respected. But the Blue House and the new People’s Participatory and Unity Party are wrongly attacking the decision as “anachronistic politics” and an attempt to shake up the administration.
The three opposition parties, including the Grand National Party, left the decision on Mr. Yoon up to the judgment of each individual lawmaker. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that hostility might have had a hand in the decision considering the situation in which the Millennium Democratic Party has broken into two parties and Grand National lawmakers are being summoned in droves by the prosecution. Nevertheless, the president must humbly accept the assembly’s decision.
Instead, the Blue House and the new party are worsening the situation by charging that the Millennium Democratic Party and the Grand National Party worked in concert to press the president into a corner. That is not a desirable attitude for a minority ruling camp.
The first thing the administration and new party should do is reflect on whether they have done their best. President Roh Moo-hyun has called the opposition parties “forces that resist reform,” and none of the Blue House or new party officials have made earnest efforts to solicit the opposition’s cooperation. Since the opposition left the decision to individual lawmakers, it might not be politics but the candidate’s individual ability and experience that led to the rejection.
The administration must take the qualifications of a candidate into account when it decides on the next candidate. It should not insist on candidates who share the same political views, but may be lacking in experience and ability. The bigger issue is how the administration will conduct its relations with the Assembly under a new political landscape of four parties with the governing party reduced to a minority. Mr. Roh’s political ability will have to rise to the occasion.