[Opinion] A Top Ruling Party Person’s `Theory of Nobility`

A few days ago, a top ruling party person said:

``It will not be good for any of us if the Kim Dae-Jung Administration is shaken to ruins during its remaining term of one and a half years. Has the Kim Dae-Jung Administration ever committed a big injustice? People are not aware that the current situation is far nobler than that of former administration. We had more scandals but they turned out to be nothing, didn`t they? The same is true in the case of Lee Yong-Ho. But the opposition party is trying to make it a Honam-Gate. Isn`t it so that the opposition party is trying to make it a scandal that the Honam cliques within the Prosecution`s Office and the National Tax Service conspired commit? That`s why they requested the parliamentary probe. If the parliamentary probe is conducted, those who are called as witnesses will speak in a Honam provincial accent. But such a division among provinces is a disaster.``

Some may ask who on earth is this `top ruling party person` in the midst of situation that people suspect `K` or `KK` to be the main figure of `Lee Yong-Ho Gate`. But since it is a proper behavior to keep the promise not to reveal his identity, anonymity is inevitable. If I am allowed to drop a hint, I will say that he is a `quite influential person`.

Let`s take a closer look at his words. Above all, he was right in saying that it wouldn`t do any of us good if the Kim Dae-Jung Administration was shaken to ruins during its remaining term of one and a half years. Nobody wants this administration to be ruined unless with an impure intention. Despite that people`s disappointment followed by anger, no one will be glad to see the ruin of this administration since it means the shaking of the nation. Then, the core intention of his words appears to be to ` shake the government`. It seems likely that the persons of the ruling party, including himself, believe that the opposition party and several news media have `conspired` to shake the government.

A serious problem lies in the fact the ruling party`s suspicion as such has become a `serious illness` since the clothing lobby scandal. When the clothing lobby scandal broke out two years ago, the ruling party alleged that the news media were conducting `a witch-hunt` over an `unsuccessful lobby`. It became furious, arguing that some newspapers shook the government maliciously by exaggerating the case that had no substance. The ruling party did not try to understand why so many people were disappointed with and mad at the `clothing lobby scandal`. They just stood on a logic of `unsuccessful lobby` but never try to consider the sentiment of the general public who felt betrayed by the government whose morality they had trusted in.

It will be considered later whether `Lee Yong-Ho Gate` will turn out to be nothing but an unnecessarily exaggerated scandal committed by some corrupted prosecutors and humbugging money brokers as the ruling party wishes. But don`t shake? This sounds silly. If they were the opposition party, would they watch calmly the result of the investigation? Furthermore, who can be so sure that the scandal itself wouldn’t be hushed up stealthily, to which the top prosecutors and police agents were linked unless the opposition spoke and the newspapers wrote about it. It is not the right course of matter to complain that it is a conspiracy or it shakes the government.

It is also true that ``Lee Yong-Ho Gate should not be appointed as a `Honam Gate`. It is not right to divide the nation as such.`` Not all people Youngnam province were the beneficiaries of the 37 years of Youngnam administrations, nor all people in Honam people are to be criticized just because the `private connection` found in this scandal was established by those belonging to the Homan provincial clique. The real beneficiaries of regionalism are in general those several politicians who enjoy a special benefit by inciting regional sentiment and those government officials and businessmen who have connections to them. Isn`t it that the large mass of the people have been deceived by a false consciousness manipulated by them who have kept saying ``Are we the others?``

However, the top ruling party person`s complaint about regionalism is embarrassing because the ruling party is no less responsible for it. It originates in `the appropriation of power` as Supreme Council member of the Millennium Democratic Party Kim Keun-Tae once mentioned. In an atmosphere where appropriating the power to patronize those of the same hometown or school and selectively appoint them to important posts is more pervasive than using it in the interest of the public, it appears natural to seek connections based upon an academic or regional clique even if it is not extraordinarily imposturous.

As long as an unofficial connection is in operation, scandals as such will not vanish. It is a pity that this top ruling party person appears to consolation in thinking `it is nobler than the former government` even in the situation when the power of unofficial connections pervades the nation.

Chun Jin-Woo youngji@donga.com