[EDITORIALS]Roh’s allies have a point

“Now is an important time to manage [the president’s] close aides or private groups to prevent them from dominating,” said Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan at a lecture yesterday.
He explained his remarks by saying that as the administration enters into the latter half of its term, some may want to exploit opportunities to get rich before the term is over. The prime minister said he asked the Blue House’s senior secretary for civic affairs to monitor those close to the president.
At a recent meeting of Uri Party lawmakers, politicians blamed the party’s current crisis on the Blue House and urged a shakeup of its staff.
It was not the opposition parties but the governing party and the prime minister calling on the Blue House and the president’s aides to discipline themselves, which demonstrates the extremely muddled state of affairs.
The Blue House needs to be aware that it cannot and should not ignore such concerned voices. Rather than examine itself with modesty, however, the Blue House is resisting, saying, “We are doing good. Do not bother us.”
It is serious indeed that the Blue House fails to understand the reality. It hasn’t even recognized what its problems are.
This is evident by the remarks of its top staff members. Two days ago, Kim Woo-sik, Blue House chief of staff, complained that the criticism directed at the Blue House was unwarranted. And the same day, Lee Joung-woo, a special presidential adviser for policy planning, criticized the demand to reform the Blue House’s operations, saying that such a demand amounts to a “violent gale” blown from a conservative scholars’ group from the Joseon Dynasty.
We understand the intentions of Mr. Kim and Mr. Lee, who wanted to smooth over the difficulties in state affairs. But their remarks are not correct and do not help solve the problem. We now understand better the Uri lawmakers who criticized the Blue House.
It is expected that the administration’s diplomatic and security positions will change soon. We ask for a more comprehensive personnel reform measure for the administration and the Blue House. We hope that national issues are resolved through proper management of state affairs over the next two years and eight months.