[Editorial] End an emotional civil war

In a big debate on Tuesday to address major challenges our politics faces in 2023, senior political leaders presented one poignant analysis after another over the politics infamous for miserable performance. Former prime minister Lee Hong-koo said, “Korea made great strides in enhancing democracy over the past 50 years, but the recent developments sound loud alarms.” Going back to a column he wrote for the JoongAng Ilbo 20 years ago, Lee lamented at a critical lack of social consensus on national levels even though such a “social contract” is the backbone of our Constitution.

Former National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun warned that if we fail to change the winner-take-all politics, we will repeat the misfortune of the past. Most impressive was a comment from another former prime minister Kim Boo-kyum. “I am out of the ring now after 30 years as a lawmaker. But I am heartbroken to see our politicians receive shabby scores from the voters. I am sorry for that,” he confessed. “An opinion poll even shows that people wouldn’t have dinner or get married with others if they have different thought about politics. Korean politics have entered a de facto civil war, emotionally.”

Kim attributed the crisis to political egocentrism pervasive among legislators and the eventual “fragmentation of our community.” Voices of former political heavyweights sounded like an outcry about the irrevocable division of our society by politicians.

Such agony is not confined to the political seniors alone, as manifested by a voluntary participation of nearly half of all lawmakers in a bipartisan group for political reform. The finish line of the reform is a Constitutional revision, but the start line is to revamp the current single-member district system — the very source of the winner-take-all structure. In a recent survey, 72.4 percent agreed to the need for change in our electoral system.

The head of the special committee promised to reach a “meaningful conclusion” on the electoral change by April 10, the deadline to fix constituencies. That will not be easy given a sharp conflict of interest among lawmakers over their own fate. Changing the current single-member district system to multi-member district system and adopting the complicated proportional representation system will pose serious challenge to lawmakers.

As former prime minister Chung said, political leaders today must dump their myopic strategy for elections and strike a bipartisan deal for a better future of the country. Incumbent lawmakers, academia, the press and the civic society all must roll up their sleeves to create a Korean equivalent of the Magna Carta.