[Editorial] “Cho Soon-hyung’s MDP” Should Lead to the Normalization of Parliament

It was a proper action for Cho Soon-hyung, the newly appointed leader of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), to demand the immediate normalization of Parliament and the meeting of the four party leaders as his first announcement in his acceptance speech. Chairman Cho is said to visit the parties to discuss these issues today. The current political situation is on the verge of ruin due to the variance on the special investigation bill about the corruption of President Roh Moo-hyun’s aides between the Blue House and the Grand National Party (GNP). As a fresh start, the top priorities in the MDP should be to solve this problem and normalize Parliament. People must be expecting “Cho Soon-hyung’s MDP” to settle this issue.

Yesterday the standing committee of the MDP said, “We’ll pursue the stabilization of the people’s livelihood as our strategy between the unyielding politics of the Blue House and the unreasonable adherence politics of the GNP.” This is worthy of gaining sympathy. Although the MDP is the “second-ranked opposition party,” it should be on the right path to lead Parliament to care about state affairs and people’s livelihood -- the way that Parliament should be.

As Chairman Cho pointed out, the matters of urgency in the current political situation are the meeting of four party leaders and their agreement on the normalization of Parliament. As the situation of affairs is unfavorable, the leaders of the parties must meet to find the solution to current issues. People will be much relieved at the mere sight of the leaders putting their heads together.

In the nick of time, the leaders of the GNP are said to have changed their stance regarding the special investigation bill. They say that it is possible to review the special investigation bill in the wake of the appointment of Chairman Cho. It sounds like good news. As mentioned before, the only way to resolve the current disputes is to review the special investigation bill and open the Parliament session accordingly.

Parliament has its work cut out for itself. It is not the right time for the president and the “majority opposition party” to continue the political nerve war, shifting the responsibility back and forth. It should stop putting fatigue on people by its “unyielding and adherence politics,” where emotions dominate the situation. President Roh should stop confronting Parliament and Chairman Choe should stop the hunger strike. Both should care more about the people rather than their power or the interests of the party.