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[EDITORIALS]Install emergency Cabinet

Published: 31 Oct. 2006, 22:47

A floor leader of the governing Uri Party urged the president to create an emergency Cabinet to overcome the current national security crisis and help the economy. It is very unusual for a leader of the governing party to make such a move, as the posts for the unification, foreign and defense ministers, as well as the head of the national intelligence agency, are waiting to be filled. The format was a suggestion, but also an apparent challenge to the president’s right to employ government officials. The floor leader also asked the president to concentrate on managing the national crisis during the rest of his term. This is interpreted as a demand for him not to intervene in reorganizing political circles or campaigns in next year’s presidential election. The conflict between the president and his party is reaching its climax.
Regardless, an emergency Cabinet is more needed than ever. Although South Korea’s diplomacy, security and economy are undergoing totally new phases following the North’s detonation of its nuclear device, the South Korean administration has responded leisurely. The conflict between South Korea and the United States has worsened. Pro-North Koreans and leftists are acting fervently. The police has given in to illegal protesters. The government policies to boost the economy and to build a satellite city dance around. The governing party attacks the national intelligence agency, and the administration and the head of the agency clash, which is unprecedented.
However, the president has formed a special team of advisers, only creating confusion and division. He is thinking of ways to re-employ about 10 figures with whom he shares personal political convictions.
Former Presidents Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung seceded from their parties and created neutral cabinets at the end of their presidential terms to finish their jobs, free from controversies over political neutrality.
President Roh should forget his political convictions and concentrate on managing the crisis, the last job in his presidential term.
The floor leader suggested the president form a dream team. That is the right thing to do. The president should not cling to people with whom he shares the same ideology but should employ people who are equipped with experience and a sense of responsibility in the fields of security and the economy. If so, the governing party will feel responsible for helping him manage the country. If the president sticks to his own ways, he will face trouble at the National Assembly hearings to employ new government officials.