Lost? Go back to where you started
I was once lost in a desert in Tunisia. Without proper preparations, I drove my car out to the remote area. After driving for a while, I lost my sense of direction and had no idea where to go as the sun began to set.
When you are lost, there are three options: First, you can start moving, because you don뭪 get anywhere if you stay still. You can try different directions, and if you'e lucky, you might find the way. Second, you can look around closely and study the surrounding geography. When you think calmy, you may discover the way back. The last option is, of course, to go back to where you started.
It is not an easy decision to turn back. You have to admit that all the efforts have been futile and start from the beginning. I traced back the car tracks and in the end managed to get out of the desert.
The internal discord over the rules of the presidential primary in the Saenuri Party is aggravating. The princess ?Park Geun-hye of the ruling party ?has stepped aside by herself and is not willing to compromise at all and stands by her principles. But the three other candidates, who are not supporting the princess, demand an open primary and insist that they would not participate in the primary altogether.
The party leadership, which is predominantly pro-princess, is mediating, but unless the princess changes her mind, they can expect no further improvement.
The princess is unyielding and stubborn. But at this rate, the party primary is likely to be a boring event with her self-righteous and intolerant image being a fatally negative factor for her in the presidential election, as it will remind the voters of the image of her dictator father, Park Chung Hee. The selling point of the princess should be the gentle image of her mother, the first lady, Yuk Yeong-su, who was generous to the weak.
There is no easy trick to get out of this mess, and even a careful deliberation would not produce a solution. Just like the last option when you are lost in the desert, the Saenuri Party last resort is to go back to where they started. The princess should give up her vested interests and stand at the starting line along with other candidates. A ship can only move if the sail is spread when the wind blows. And right now is the time.
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.
by Bae Myung-bok
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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