[Editorial] Impeachment and the Lost Majority

Saturday marks a year since the opposition impeached President Roh Moo Hyun. After an approximately two month suspension of his authority Roh was able to return to Cheong Wa Dae stronger than he had been before, with the ruling party winning a majority of seats in April's National Assembly elections. That majority, however, is at risk of collapsing. On Friday the Supreme Court sent the case of Uri Party Assemblyman Kim Ki Suk back to a high court, meaning Uri gets to barely maintain its majority. The loss of Uri's majority is a matter of time, however, since at the end of the month it is likely another "election annulment" sentence will be issued.

Looking back, the past year has been very much in vain. For the first time in the history of parliamentary government reform forces have held the majority, and yet there has been little to show for it in the way of reform. The new majority has been dragged around by the opposition on reform legislation, about which it has yet to arrive at a conclusion. Welfare policy designed to improve the quality of life for those neglected by society has not seen any clear progress either. Jaebeol reform has taken one step back after another. To put it in the extreme, the only thing the ruling party has done with its majority has been to save the president from impeachment with its majority. The friendly Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) has got the ruling party protected, and yet the ruling party has been unable to take charge of the political atmosphere or accomplish any clear achievements in reform.

The old establishment forces fought as if to the death to defend their status, impeaching the president and ruining legitimate policies such as the construction of a new city for government administration. They obstructed reform legislation without regard to method, including the use of red-baiting tactics. It goes without saying that breaking through the strong wall presented by the forces of the old establishment to achieve social reform would demand far stronger resolve and effort. The forces of reform, however, had no political will to speak of and were utterly incompetent in terms of strategy, the result being that they were unable to put to use the support they had from the people and the Assembly majority, very much in contrast to the activities of the old establishment.

As it risks losing its majority a year after impeachment, Uri needs to remember what the will of the people was when it was make the majority party in last year's Assembly election. It should also engage in painful reflection about how it lost the perfect opportunity to achieve reform by not working in good faith to do all it could towards that end.

The Hankyoreh, 12 March 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]