[Editorial] Call for Kwon Roh-Kap's resignation

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) is in utter confusion amid calls within the party for the resignation of Kwon Roh-Kap, a powerful member of the MDP Supreme Council (MDPSC). Fellow member Chung Dong-Young called on Kwon to step down at an informal meeting between President Kim Dae-Jung and MDPSC members Saturday at Chong Wa Dae. Chung's call has drawn widening support from people both inside and outside of the party. Kwon's supporters branded Chung's move a political conspiracy and launched a counterattack that escalated the infighting.

The MDP's intra-party conflict is now showing signs of becoming a power struggle since the move to force Kwon's retirement provoked a factional struggle to remove Kwon's followers, known as ``Tonggyo-dong power elites,¡± from powerful posts as well as pitting Kwon against his strong adversary Hahn Hwa-Kap.

Whether or not we should regard this as a true power struggle is not an important consideration for us. Of greater importance here is clarifying the issue of who and what was responsible for the crisis in the management of state affairs and the intra-party feud. What must also be clarified is whether there are any flaws in our ruling or governing structures. Without such clarification, crises among those in the ruling elite will never cease to occur.

We have no way to verify whether Kwon's conspiracy theory has any validity in explaining Chung's call for Kwon's resignation. But, we must heed Chung's claim that Kwon conjures up images of Kim Hyun-Chul during the Kim Young-Sam administration. Who was Kim Hyun-Chul after all? It should be recalled here that Kim, being the second son of ex-President Kim Young-Sam, unlawfully intervened during his father's presidential tenure in all kinds of personnel appointments and matters where big monetary interests were at stake. This in the end led to the paralysis of his father's administration.

This makes clear the import of Chung's warning that Kwon raises the specter of a Kim Hyun-Chul in the current administration. This could signal that Kwon's undue interference in personnel appointments and interests may lead to the downfall of the ruling power. In the face of such a warning, the reaction from Kwon's people is that it has no more validity than wild rumors at the stock market. But Kwon, as a senior member of the Tonggyo-dong elites, must feel shameful about the fact that he is embroiled in such a controversy. He must realize that the rumors and suspicions are being circulated not just in the stock market but also in his own party and among his party's junior members.

There would have been no room today for such scandalous rumors if the Tonggyo-dong power elites were faithful to their original pledge that their role would stop at helping Presidential candidate Kim Dae-Jung get elected. Nor would there have been such circumstances, even if they assumed leading political roles, if they had been faithful enough to democratic principles and modus vivendi to ensure a satisfactory inter-party relationship between the ruling and opposition parties and maintain successful operation of the parliament and the party.

There must be a rigorous self-examination as whether or not this crisis was due to their arbitrary involvement in, and their monopoly of, personnel appointments and policy decisions in the last three years since the party came to power. President Kim's scheduled cabinet reshuffle at year-end must reflect such retrospection and self-examination. Critical voices and painful criticisms must not be taken simply as reflections of factional conflict but as the labor pains of a party working to make its ruling system democratic. The nation will keep a vigilant eye on President Kim's decision on the issue at year-end.