[EDITORIALS]Love for club alienates public

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[EDITORIALS]Love for club alienates public

Legislator Moon Hee-sang of Uri Party attended a meeting of Nosamo, President Roh Moo-hyun’s personal fan club, Saturday and gave a speech emphasizing the group’s role in making the president’s reforms succeed. “We don’t need a large number of people. The power of Nosamo is enough,” Mr. Moon said.
President Roh sent a message of encouragement: “Even now, when I see the yellow T-shirts and balloons, my heart grows warm.” It is a pity that the Roh administration is showing no signs of becoming independent from Nosamo.
It is not wrong for the president and his aides to have special feelings for Nosamo. The fan club played a crucial role in getting President Roh nominated as the Millennium Democrats’ presidential candidate and getting him elected. It led the way in protecting the president from the turmoil of impeachment.
It is natural that the president should want to give thanks to his fan club. However, the comments made that day by Mr. Moon and Mr. Roh were hardly appropriate. The president is the head of our state and the president of the people. He is not the president of the Nosamo alone. Won’t the majority of society, who are not members of Nosamo, feel alienated and snubbed by Mr. Moon’s remarks?
Mr. Moon served as the Blue House chief of staff in the early days of Mr. Roh’s administration and had been a special aide to the president until recently. He is said to know Mr. Roh’s thoughts better than anyone else. Mr. Moon should be more cautious with his words because they could very well be interpreted as the president’s words.
Mr. Moon’s statement that “the indignation we are suffering right now is due to the Pax Americana” could cause unnecessary misunderstanding, especially in light of the reduction of U.S. troops. His boast that there will soon come a time when Korea, China and Japan will lead the world is highly unrealistic.
With the impeachment behind them and the Uri Party holding a majority in the National Assembly, it is time for the president and his supporters to stop thinking of themselves as the persecuted minority. You can keep a soft spot in your heart for Nosamo, Mr. President, but it’s time you started paying attention to the Korean people as well.
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