[Editorial] Government Reform, No Need to Postpone Any Longer

It has already been a week since the October 25 by-elections but the ruling party has not even taken steps to manage public sentiment after losing the elections. Instead, they are caught up in internal strife due to misunderstandings over the primary candidate for the presidential elections. The five group reform elements within the Millennium Democratic Party demanded comprehensive reorganization in party structure, personnel reform, and made a total of five demands. The opposition, the so-called Tonggyo-dong faction, criticized the reform faction for creating division in the party. It appears that the two factions are about to engage in a fierce battle. The MDP reform faction demanded that Kwon Roh-kap, leader of the Tonggy-dong faction, and senior most member Park Ji-Won, Chief Secretary to the President for Policy Planning, to give their names and retire from the political world. For all intents and purposes, the two factions have reached a point of no return.

It is utterly impossible for the state to run properly when the party in power is fraught with inner strife. The reason why we are urging President Kim Dae-Jung to take immediate steps to put the situation under control is because the negative consequences of the internal fighting in the MDP may overflow and impact the entire government.

Cheong Wa Dae says that President Kim can begin making government reforms after the regular session of the National Assembly is over. Tomorrow, top senior members of the MDP will meet at the Cheong Wa Dae and hold group interviews with MDP members to gather together everyone`s view, all of which means that they are going take their time in dealing with the situation.

However, now is not the time to `take time`. One cannot help suspecting that President Kim`s ignorance about the urgency of the situation is bordering on the absurd. They say that the group interviews with the MDP members will help collect opinion and thoughts, but one questions whether there are any more opinions to collect. Is it not already the case that the MDP members have split between the Tonggyo-dong and reform faction? Moreover, they have been repeatedly saying that they will make government reforms but they have postponed it for over a year now. Redundantly hearing more thoughts and gathering opinion should not be the main issue right now. It is strange, too, to hear that the MDP is putting together a special body to execute government reform. Was it the lack of such a body that delayed the reforms for so long?

President Kim is the head of the government and the president of the MDP. It is only a matter of course for the party president to control internal division and address the public sentiment that was clearly expressed in their defeat. President Kim must take care of the party division immediately. To do so, he will have to implement a large scale government reform plan as soon as possible.