[EDITORIALS]GNP should clarify its position

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[EDITORIALS]GNP should clarify its position

The Grand National Party’s attitude on moving the capital is opaque. It does not make clear whether it is against the plan or whether it is raising questions about procedural problems in omitting the process of forming a national consensus.
As the main opposition party, which should check the president and criticize the ruling party, it has failed to show a responsible attitude. It looks as if the party is trying to study the trend and take the side favorable to it. As the capital move has become a national issue, the party must clarify its position.
Prior to that, the party must reflect on its hasty passage of the special law on the new capital in the National Assembly last December. It must apologize to the people. At that time, the Grand Nationals occupied the majority of seats in the Assembly. If the party had handled the law properly, we would not be experiencing so much confusion and division of opinion.
A senior consultant to the Assembly’s Construction and Transportation Committee witnessed that “the committee did not call a single hearing session when it passed the special law.” The Grand Nationals might feel awkward in criticizing the plan after they mishandled the law.
How hastily the party passed the law was made manifest when the Grand Nationals reacted angrily to the government plan. When it announced that not only the government ministries but also the Assembly and the Supreme Court would be included, they revolted, saying that “It is actually moving the capital itself.”
In the law they passed last year, however, the move of the Assembly and the Supreme Court were all included. It is apparent negligence of duty that they passed such an important law without even reading the contents.
People remember that the Grand National lawmakers from the Chungcheong provinces pressured the party leadership, threatening that they would bolt from the party if it did not pass the law, and the leadership tried hard to persuade them. Now people will pay the price the Grand Nationals owed by being swayed by political logic. The party must reflect on itself seriously before demanding the government hold a national referendum.
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