Too focused on winning

The Democratic Party (DP) held a senior executive meeting in the administrative city of Sejong — the constituency of Lee Hae-chan, chairman of the ruling party. The party held a budget policy council meeting in South Gyeongsang earlier in the week. Rep. Lee claimed Sejong would serve as the de facto administrative capital if the National Assembly and Blue House move to the city to uphold the legacies of the Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in administrations envisioning balanced national growth and decentralization. He vowed various pork-barrel projects, including a railway and a museum. Such moves appear to be targeting next year’s general election.

Earlier, Lee also irked the opposition by suggesting liberal rule for a century, extending 20 to 50 years the governing of the nation. A political party should aspire for governing power, but a blatant claim on it disregards the will of the voters and the rival parties.

The DP seems to be totally engrossed with the goal of winning a majority in next year’s parliamentary election. The ruling party has a lot of urgent work to do. The quality of the of lower-income household has dropped while the high jobless rate remains high despite the liberal administration’s colossal spending. The economy has rapidly lost steam, and future growth engines cannot start due to regulatory bottlenecks and opposition from mainstream industries. Though North Korea’s denuclearization process remains at an impasse, ruling party members are trying to hastily lift sanctions on the rogue state.

Korea Inc. is coming down, but the ruling party stays muted and obediently trumpets the Blue House. Yet it is self-indulgent to dream of holding onto power for the next 100 years.

The party has been arrogant to challenge the court ruling on South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo, a ruling that found him guilty of colluding in an online opinion-rigging scheme. The party has gone all-out to rescue the popular politician who it hopes to groom as the next presidential candidate. The DP has been lambasting the judges, and questioning the validity of the verdict.

Such actions do not befit a ruling party. The liberals are defending their behavior even though they condemned similar activity when they were committed by past conservative administrations. If they cannot address the hardships faced by the people, they won’t win public support

JoongAng Sunday, Feb. 23-24, Page 30