38% Good Vs. 52% Bad
Regarding Presidents Roh Moo-hyuns management of national affairs, as Korea is about to celebrate its second-year anniversary on February 25, 38.4 percent of the nation said, It has been good for the past two years, whereas 52.3 percent noted It has not been good. Overall, 55.9 out of 100 was given for his management of national affairs for the past two years.
On a telephone survey of 1,018 adults nationwide on February 19 by Korea Research Center, requested by Joong-Ang Daily, number one cause for the mismanagement is a lack of presidential leadership (52.2%).
Number two cause is dominance of reformists within the ruling party (22.4%), as three out of four nationals (74.6%) stated it was the fault of President Roh and the ruling party. However, compared to last years first-year anniversary survey (when 31% said good, and 53 points were given for the management), a slightly increase is shown in the positive evaluation.
Regarding the four-year presidential re-election system talked over in the political circle, it is noteworthy that more people were for it than those who were against it (58.4% vs. 34.9%).
On evaluation on the past presidents, even with the ruling partys investigative work on the past wrongdoings, more than half of the respondents (55.3%) said President Park Jung-hee was the most desirable national leader. Former President Kim Dae-jung ranked the second (25.3%).
Despite signs for economic recovery, most respondents said there was no change in their economic situations (66.7%) or they experienced worse situations (24.1%), and more than half (58.2%) pointed out that as the current administration took office, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened.
sunny60@donga.com
About Dong-A Ilbo