[Editorial] Towards Unity

Our wish for a new year is unity and solidarity. The country has been plagued with conflict and confrontation between the east and the west, the young and the old and the conservative and the liberal. Throughout the presidential campaign, we saw yet again the divide of the country, legacy of the so-called `three Kim era.`

The foremost challenge we face is to be free from the regional divide. Electing a new president for the new era, people in two different regions still voted for their two different favorites lopsidedly. Worse, some politicians tried to manipulate the regionalism instead of trying to unite people. People grew skeptical of unity, of course, watching corruption scandals and mismanagement. President-elect Roh, however, is in a better position to make a better change since he is the man from the east Youngnam region who garnered great support from the west region of Honam and Chungcheong. We expect him to be fair and wise in hiring high-ranking officials and building a foundation for national unity.

What drew keen attention is that people in their 50s and 60s, who suffered a lot in the wake of the Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War, mostly preferred a candidate advocating stability, while the young generations in their 20s and 30s chose a candidate who has a more liberal view. The way we see North Korean-U.S. relationship as well as national issues is so divided along the generational difference that it is serving as an obstacle to nation-wide communication. We need to find a halfway where the dynamic of young people meets with the old generation’ sense of stability.

The gap between the haves and the have-nots has further been widened for the last five years as the country struggled to survive in the wake of the economic crisis. This, in turn, contributed to the divide, destabilizing the foundation of the society and the country. The new government, therefore, needs to work hard to help the marginalized and the deprived. The healthy relationship between the labor and the management is a prerequisite to build a better working environment. President-elect Roh, who has been backed by working-class people, must be fair in arbitrating labor-management disputes so that the two sides work together to boost the economy.

The new government, in particular, must adopt politics of unity by embracing people with different ideas and backgrounds. Reform must be a system that fuels market economy and democracy. It must not follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, which gave rise to hostility and hatred by pushing for reform in their own way and ignoring criticism as mere complaints. Roh has an obligation to end the antagonism and confrontation from the past.

Given all these, a tense relationship between the power and the press is key to making better changes. Dong-a Ilbo will continue to play its role in maintaining checks and balances as a moderate conservative paper so that the government will be responsible for what it is doing.