[Editorial] Roh Government Should Be Reasonable

After president Roh and Cheong Wa Dae roughly criticized a certain newspaper in relation with a report about moving the capital, “sympathizing attacks” followed from the Uri party, pro-Roh groups, and the pro-government party. Apart from the original discussion about moving the capital, the case is changing into a strange direction of “attacking the newspaper.”

The ideas of the government party and the newspaper could be different according to the case. It is the media’s essential function to point out and criticize such as the newspaper did with its own viewpoint in this case. It is the same with the case of moving the capital. Their claim is to carefully consider the characteristics of the move itself to the plan’s costs and efficiency because many people object even though the government party is pushing this important case on a national scale upon which the nation’s future and fate are dependent. It is the claim of majority of people, a group of experts, and opposition parties.

I wonder whether we are living in a country representing democracy to see the government party and other outside groups raining bombs in full-force as if they are in an all-out war regarding the newspaper’s report as a slandering of the party in power or its reformative policy.

In particular, the government party’s intention cannot but be suspected as they are connecting this report to the issue of media reform. One lawmaker said “a certain media outlet and a certain party are growing a political case just as they intended by using the tactic of give and take. He also claimed, “They hate the planned movement of the capital because the media’s base is in Seoul. We should not drive forward media reform without hesitation anymore.” The representative of the government party even identified Korea’s political topography as “some newspapers vs. the Uri party.”

Is it really media reform that they are calling for when they identify a newspaper which argues rights and wrongs in a third-person point of view as a hostile political party and to condemn it one-sidedly? I would rather ask what their real intention is in making a newspaper’s coverage of the party in power helpless as a next step of holding administrational power and legislative power. Should everything be submitted and removed if someone has a different value from the government party? If so, can the nation really run well and the people be happy?

This is not the way. How can it help in stabilizing the nation to trample on voices claiming a distinction between right and wrong in relation with the movement of the capital and to unnecessarily enlarge the debate’s front line? The Roh government should be reasonable. They should not be antagonistic towards people or groups who have different voices from them. It is the lesson of history that a regime not guaranteeing freedom of critique cannot avoid deformity.