"Majority Sees Nation Currently in Crisis"

A poll found that two-thirds of our people are viewing the current situation as a national crisis, and nine out of 10 people are concerned that the internal conflict is serious. It also found that people believed that economic recovery takes precedence over any other issues that the ruling party is promoting, such as the National Security Law abolishment, historical truth-finding work, and relocation of the capital.

Dong-A Ilbo has asked the Korea Research Center (KRC), a professional opinion poll institute, for a public opinion poll, given to 1004 adults nationwide on Sept. 11. The question “whether you see our country as currently facing a national crisis” attracted a 65.7-percent answer of yes. The opposite was 29.9 percent.

Also, the question, “How serious are separation and conflicts among groups in our society?” had 88.5 percent saying it is serious. The major elements of the conflicts were conflicts between the rich and the poor (36.6 percent) and ideological conflicts between conservative and progressive (27.4 percent).

Regarding the National Security Law, 57.2 percent answered that “it should not be abolished and just has to be amended in some parts,” and 36.9 percent answered that “it should be abolished with revisions in criminal law and a new special law to supplement the problems in security.”

Regarding the truth-finding work in the history promoted by the ruling Uri Party, 52.6 percent of the respondents said, “It is provoking ideological conflicts while ignoring the impending issues in the administration,” and 35.4 percent said, “It is a truth-finding work toward human rights violation done by the national authority and anti-national pro-Japanese acts.”

About the relocation of the capital, 67.6 percent thought, “It is not necessary to be prompt about it,” while 29.4 percent thought, “It should be promoted as scheduled.”

The poll indicated that the area that President Roh Moo-hyun should focus on during the rest of his term was economic recovery (88.1 percent), relief of social conflicts (30.0 percent), political reform (28.9 percent), and others (multiple answers). The poll found the management of President Roh in the current administration to be “doing well” by 30.5 percent while 61.6 percent found him “doing poorly.”

The telephone survey has a sampling error of ±3.1 percent at the 95-percent confidence level. More details can be reached at www.donga.com, at the public opinion poll archive.

Seung-Heon Lee sunny60@donga.comddr@donga.com