[Editorial] Public Livelihoods Adrift

President Roh Moo-hyun and his administration are preoccupied with a constitutional amendment that the public does not want, and the ruling Uri Party is considered to be a wrecked ship sinking. No one knows where this administration is heading toward. While the Korean people are concerned over their standard of living, the Roh administration that is steering this sinking ship is pushing forward impractical policies while indulging in political games.

The government unveiled a program dubbed “Vision 2030 Human Resources Utilization 2+5 Strategy,” but it rings hollow. Its purpose, which is preparation for the “low birthrate and aging populations,” is accepted as an issue that needs to be addressed. Yet, the current fundamental issue is a shortage of jobs. However, the government does not offer ways of improving the current job market. It only brags about providing future workers with stable jobs.

An administration whose term expires within a year would need to bring about measures to create more jobs by stimulating markets and also by strengthening investment and consumption. Tasks that can be done after two decades may be postponed for the next administration. Jotting down empty visions on a piece of paper is just creating wastepaper. Moreover, the government cannot overhaul the nation’s educational system without consensus from the opposition party and the public. For these reasons, there are rumblings that the government’s announcement yesterday was just a gesture to justify its proposal to reduce the length of military service, aimed at the next presidential election.

Nonetheless, President Roh seems to continuously push ahead with his constitutional amendment. He said, “Abusive words say I should focus on national administration, the economy, and public affairs,” but it is his people’s wish that he deals with the national economy, and the public livelihood rather than political issues. It appears that the president takes no account of the public opinion that calls for “no constitutional amendments during the Roh administration.”

Even Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, who needs to take care of national administration, is organizing a constitutional reform support unit within the government and persuading the public and National Assembly to embrace the constitutional amendment. The prime minister from the governing party is deviating from the right path as she abandons her duties of political neutrality by supporting the constitutional amendment.

The concern is that the special session of the National Assembly that opened yesterday may be suspended if members of the ruling Uri Party collectively withdraw from the party and as a result, the party could be split. Currently, at the National Assembly, about 3,000 bills on revising the private school law, judicial reform law, national pension law, and the January 11 post-revision of the property law are pending, but they are not likely to be passed. Furthermore, consultations between the party and government are difficult, and even the newly coined term “legislative lame-duck” sounds appealing. Many of the nation’s people are struggling to make ends meet, but the government and the ruling party do not seem to care about their people’s concerns at all. How long will the public have to put up with this administration’s obstinacy?