[Editorial] Concerned about President`s Tenure of Office

Just five months into his term and President Roh’s popularity is dropping rapidly, which reflects the public’s sense of crisis over the new government’s ways in which it is managing the nation. What’s more is that the president’s popularity rating is just half of former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Kim young-sam at the same stage of their governments.

The incumbent government should take the unprecedented low popularity rating as the public’s warning in various areas such as politics, economy, society and security. Things are bad both at home and abroad. Outside the country, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is hindering the government, while domestically the Korean economy is suffering due to labor-management conflicts, increasing gaps between the haves and have-nots, and growing unemployment among the youth.

Adding to the government’s troubles has been the internal feud within the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) over the move to form a new party. The debate escalated into a nasty spate between Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party with Choeng Wa Dae`s alleged inappropriate handling of a bribery scandal involving the MDP chief. Mr. Roh cannot be free from criticism for his slip of the tongue and "taking sides." The problem is that the government is just dismissing the current situation as a transitional phenomenon that occurs in the process of discarding authoritarianism.

In this context, the remarks by Rep. Kim Geun-tae of the MDP, "The biggest mistake by President Roh is that he does not regard the current crisis as a crisis," are enough to strike the right chord among people. The lawmaker even mentioned the term of office of the president, saying that if the president did not finish up his tenure, it would lead to a lot of difficulties for the nation. As the ruling party lawmaker feels that the government has disaffected the public, we don`t have to say how much alienated the public are from the government.

The president and the party in power should change. They should reflect on why politics is tuning the public off and establish a new framework for national management based on this reflection. If necessary, there should be a personnel reshuffle. The government should be more tolerant of those with different voices. Now is the time for the president to turn the current crisis into an opportunity with strong determination.