[Editorial] What Is Going on with the Administration of State Affairs?

The administration of state affairs is unstable and risky. This is how people, who are exhausted by watching the disorder and power game within the ruling party, feel about the administration of state affairs. People are extremely disappointed by the confusion and failure of education policy, medical policy and the big deal policy, mistakes in the policy on North Korea as well as disgraceful diplomacy. How come is the regime, which proudly proclaimed the first alternate government by the opposition party since the founding of the country, so helpless and is repeating the misrule? Not to mention rewarding people, why does the regime only deepens people`s anxiety?

President Kim Dae-Jung and the government chose and carried out the policies. However, they always put the blame on `others` for the confusion and aftermath which were created by unprepared policies. Education reform, which regarded teachers as enemy and divided the school, is one example. When the policy, which was carried out even without an exact information on the supply and demand of teachers, faced the contradiction and was criticized, the government blamed conservative groups or the major press firms.

The separation of medicine and pharmacy and the failure of medical insurance were also the outcome of the policies which the government chose by itself. Medical doctors and pharmacists opposed to the policy, the finance was bankrupt and the people experienced inconveniences due to the government policy which was short-sighted. However, the government did not humbly admit its mistakes. The policy on North Korea is another example. Ignoring public agreement, the government rushed the policy only thinking about the achievement and reputation. When it was criticized by the people, and North Korea betrayed, however, the President Kim`s administration did not self-reproach.

The government blamed the conservative groups and the press. Then, the government investigated tax, targeting the press firms, and responded to the press firms with the huge amount of additional taxes and the criminal punishment. The politics which ignore the origin and the essence cannot be supported by the people. As people`s estrangement from the government was confirmed at the reelection, plea for reform and the recovery of the public sentiment was cried out within the ruling party. However, as the decisive reform policy is being delayed, the administration of state affairs is on the verge of risk.

We do not regard the internal movement within the Millennium Democratic Party simply as an inevitable transitional phenomenon of a democratic party with the presidential election at hand. It is the unprecedented disturbances within the regime, and the serious leakage of the sovereign power of President. In essence, this is the phase of confusion following the `people`s government` that lost people`s support and did not show vision. It is a desperate situation. What would the government do from now on?